


The Zookeeper

by HawksCrispyChickenNugget



Category: Naruto, SNS - Fandom, narusasu - Fandom, sasunaru - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-01-25 19:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21361639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawksCrispyChickenNugget/pseuds/HawksCrispyChickenNugget
Summary: When zookeeper, Naruto Uzumaki, notices one of his lionesses has become  ill, he seeks helps from the veterinarian, Sasuke Uchiha, who has some issues of himself he's currently dealing with. #fluff
Relationships: NaruSasu, SasuNaru
Comments: 53
Kudos: 180





	1. The Veterinarian

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not a veterinarian so take the veterinary medicine with a grain of salt.

Lions have always been wild and dangerous animals. Not many people dare to stand near them, let along next to them. What would be even more insane is to play with them and pat them like they were no different from a overly large cat. Yet, there was one idiot that could befriend the dangerous creature and that idiot went by the name Naruto Uzumaki; Zootopia’s head lion keeper.

He did not fear the large cats, he wasn’t even afraid to walk amongst them. In fact, he would often be in such close proximities that people thought he was insane. He would sit amongst them, feed them, scold them when they misbehaved and most importantly, he took great care of them.

Konoha’s Zootopia zoo had made the news paper many times due to the animals. It seemed the zoo did well for themselves and they had their caregivers to thank. Most of them bonded with their animals to an extent they saw the animals as their family. Naruto was no exception to this, he had always found lions fascinating creatures, although he favourite animals were foxes and toads, but he never connected to them in the same extent as he had done with the lions. He had raised the three lionesses and one lion when they were mere cubs. Now they were seventeen months old and to Naruto they were still the baby cat-like creatures he had first come to bond with.

The youngest of the four was the male and his name was Simba, the three females were named Nala, Kiara and Sarabi. They were all different in personality. Kiara was a little attention seeker. She hated it when Naruto gave attention to anybody but her. She would often come up to his leg and bump against him to get his attention back on her. Nala was a playful one. She got along with everybody. Sarabi was quiet and reserved while Simba was lazy and enjoyed laying in the sun.

Naruto loved all four of them, he called them his babies. That was something people found odd about him, but his fellow zookeepers understood him too well. Kiba, the head caretaker of the wolfs, felt the same about his pack of wolves, and Chouji was no different with his four elephants.

The zoo was particularly busy today. A lot of children were running around followed by overworked teachers telling them to be careful; apparently several schools had decided to go on a field trip to the zoo. Naruto liked children, they were curious and always asked a bunch of question about the lions in the cutest way. He always got the questions if he was scared of them and if they were dangerous. The funniest question he got for the day was a kid shouting that lions ate humans and that feeding time meant they ate the zookeeper. Naruto had tears in his eyes from laughter.

He proceeded to walk inside the enclosure to feed the lions, hearing the children gasp and some scream. The teachers were holding their breaths too because they had not seen a zookeeper enter the enclosure to feed the lions. The noise did work the lions up more than usual, they had no idea what the children were doing and why they were screaming. Naruto calmed them down, putting up a strict voice to tell them to stay still and not jump on him at him as they used to do when they were a lot smaller. He fed them their food, causing a lot of children to cheer. Naruto laughed and waved at them.

Suddenly he felt something heavy push him against his leg, causing him to fall forward on his knees. He heard the children scream loudly again. Naruto turned around and frowned at the lioness, Kiara.

“Bad girl!” Naruto scolded her as he got up. “We don’t push me! Not in the enclosure! Not in your cage!” Naruto said, pinching her side. The lioness roared at first, fighting back but Naruto didn’t give in on her, causing her behaviour to change to a pouting one.

“If you want my attention you have to be good girl, believe it! I won’t give you any attention if you’re being mean to me!” Naruto said picking the bucker up. He looked over at the other three lions, they were backing away too, neither liked it when Naruto raised his voice, but they had to know he was the alpha of the pride and he wasn’t going to let them walk over him. He could see Kiara lay down in the shadow of the tree, looking upset. Naruto decided to not giver her any attention. He put the bucket away, waving a quick goodbye at the children that were heading towards the elephants. He closed the enclosure behind him, looking at the lions from behind a thick glass wall. He could see all three lions had eaten, but it seem Sarabi wasn’t eating. Perhaps she wasn’t hungry at the moment. It was odd of her not to be eating anything, she was always the first to come when Naruto fed them. He decided to let it slide as he took care of the rest of his duties.

days passed by and Naruto started to get worried, Sarabi seemed to be in pain. She wasn’t being quite herself. She hadn’t eaten much the last coupe of times, and today she didn’t bother at all. He decided to consult his friend, Sakura, she was a veterinarian assistant. She had worked along side Tsunade for years before she retired, she probably knew what was wrong.

He headed to the medical unit. It was a small white building all the way in the back of the zoo. Naruto knocked twice before opening the door. He could see an alligator bound to the table. Sakura was bounding it to the table, closing the last belt.

“I didn’t say you could come in, damn it!” She shouted annoyed. Her hair was roughed up and she seemed tired.

“You’ve had a day it seems” Naruto said, walking towards the table to check out the alligator . “Is it awake?”

“No, idiot” Sakura said, trying to fix her hair slightly. “Yes, I had busy day. Now, what can I do for you?” She sighed annoyed as she grabbed a stool. Naruto took a few steps back to be out of her way as she was handling some machines.

“It’s my baby girl, Sarabi.”

Sakura frowned slightly, she then remembered that Naruto referred to his lionesses as “baby girl”. She rolled her eyes and nodded for him to continue.

“She isn’t playing with the others. She isn’t eating, I think she has been losing weight.” Naruto said, “should I be concerned?”

“I don’t know, you should ask the vet.”

“Granny, retired a month ago.” Naruto said.

“Yeah and they hired a new vet like a week ago,” Sakura said.

“Really? What is she like?”

“**He** is good at his job,” Sakura said, writing something down at the chart, “and he has bought me lunch today.”

“He seems to like you,” Naruto teased her.

“He seems pretty gay,” Sakura responded coldly. “I think she has swallowed a phone…” she muttered looking at the alligator .

“Really? Did he say so?” Naruto asked, “is he hot? Single? Nice?”

“I don’t know it took him three days to remember my name. We have been pretty busy catching up the work Tsunade left. Hence why he bought me lunch.”

The door of the medical unit opened and Naruto could see a man around his age walk inside, dropping a heavy shoulder bag down before taking his doctor’s coat off and folding his sleeves up. He was slim and seemed to be about the same height as Naruto. He had a pale complexion, dark almond eyes and sharp jawline. His hair was dark and grown out to his neck, a few locks were hanging from the side of his face, some covering his left eye, but most were tucked in a messy bun.

He’s handsome, there was not a bone in Naruto’s body that could deny that.

“What ya got for me, Haruno” He said, grabbing the chart from Sakura.

“I think somebody dropped an iPhone and she swallowed it,” Sakura said.

“A phone? Yes. An Iphone, I don’t think so.” He said as he grabbed a plastic glove that wrapped his entire arm. Sakura opened the mouth wide so the vet could push his arm in. Naruto awkwardly looked away, not sure what to say or do.

“Want to bet? Loser buys lunch tomorrow.” Sakura said.

“Fine…” he pulled his hand back revealing an Samsung mobile phone. “I told you. Androids are bigger.” He threw the phone in a metal bin before taking the glove off and throwing it in a bin. He grabbed the chart making a few notes.

“Get her back to her reservoir. She can wake up there, have the care-giver keep an eye out for any morons dropping their phones. Also, tell me why there is a idiot staring at floor?”

Naruto gave Sakura a confused look before pointing at himself.

Was he the idiot? 

Sakura smirked and just nodded, wheeling the table with the alligator out to the other room.

“I’m Naruto Uzumaki, pleasure meeting you….” Naruto extended his hand. The vet stared at it before looking back at Naruto, ignoring his attempt to shake his hand.

“Sasuke Uchiha.” He grabbed a file and looked through it. “I’m busy so don’t waste my time.”

“Alright…Rude.” Naruto said out loud, “Well, I work here so I sort of am your business.”

“Are you?” Sasuke shut his file and slapped it on the table. “Then make it quick and stop wasting my time. There are three pandas that need to get their vaccinations up to date, a koala bear with herpes and a zebra that is constipated.”

“So I’m the head keeper for the lions-“

“Get to the point.”

“I figured you would need to know what species you were dealing with. Why are you so mean?”

“It is my personality.”

“I did not know being a bastard was a personality trade.”

“It is something you’re born as. I don’t have time to care about your sensitive feelings” Sasuke said, he pulled his hair out of the bun, running his hand through it. Naruto was taken aback for a second. Sasuke’s left eye was violet. Something he has never seen before.

“Wow…Your eye…” Naruto said. He could see Sasuke frown, pushing his bangs to cover up his left eye.

“So…Lions?” Sasuke questioned, it seemed he was eager to change he conversation.

“Is that real? Or is it a contact lens?” Naruto asked, not dropping the subject. “I’ve never seen a violet eye before? Isn’t that something typically present in people with albinism? Do you have albinism? No…No I can see your stubs you definitely have natural black hair. How come it is only in one eye-“

Naruto was caught by surprise when Sasuke grabbed his bag and left the medical unit.

“Wait, what about my babies?” Naruto walked after him, slowly jogging to keep up with Sasuke’s steps.

“See a paediatrician,” Sasuke groaned annoyed.

“I mean my lions! Can you stop being a bitch towards me!” Naruto hissed, causing Sasuke to stop walking and turn abruptly around to look at Naruto.

“I’ll get to the lions when I get there.” He said before walking towards the panda keep.

“You’re a prick!” Naruto shouted after Sasuke, seeing him raise a middle finger at him.

_How could somebody so beautiful and exotic looking, be such a bitch. _Naruto thought, shaking his head.

When the zoo closed up for the day, Naruto was putting the lions back in their cage. He was patting Sarabi, trying to get her to cheer up. However, she didn’t seem to respond to what usually made her very happy. She laid on her side, ears drooping, tail down.

“Don’t worry girl, you’ll be fine. I got you.” Naruto kneeled down beside her, stroking her head. “The new vet is a major dick. You can bite his stupid head of for all I care-“

“I shouldn’t do that.”

Naruto looked up, seeing Sasuke stand in front of the now closed cage, he seemed to have pushed the door that automatically locked.

“Your lions will be seen as a threat and killed as a result” he said. “Seeing as you are trying to fulfil some heteronormative procreating fantasy by calling wild animals your ‘babies’, I’ll presume seeing them dead is the last thing you want.”

“I’ll have you know I’m bisexual. And that they are my babies because I had them since they were just a few weeks old.” Naruto said, standing up.

“I would say only a moron would stand between a pride of seventeen month old lions and not be afraid they turn against him.” He could see Sasuke’s eyes look up from the animals to Naruto, “it wouldn’t even be on purpose. One day they’re rough housing too much and accidently snap your neck.”

“What you fail to consider, doctor Asshole, is that I am part of this pride. I’m their alpha and he is my beta.” Naruto indicated to Simba. Sasuke looked at one of the lioness. She was on high alert, walking circles around Naruto.

“One is looking angry and ready to jump you. I highly advise you get out of the cage.”

“No…Kiara is just jealous bitch.”

“Back off, girl!” he raised his voice, causing the lioness to stop circling him around and angerly laid down, almost glaring at Sasuke.

“I’m impressed.” He said while keeping a neutral face. He looked back at Naruto. “Why d you want to see me?”

“You’re quite beautiful, not bad to look at.”

Sasuke looked annoyed.

“Are you really stupid or are you pretending?”

“it is fifty-fifty,” Naruto joked. “It is Sarabi, she hasn’t been quite herself. She seems tired a lot, she is constantly lying on her side. She isn’t eating. I think she has been losing weight.” Naruto, said pointing at the lioness in the corner right side.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Two weeks, but it is really noticeable the last coupe of days.” Naruto said. Sasuke nodded and grabbed his ipad from his bag. “I’ll have a look at her first thing in the morning. Don’t feed her anything until then. I’ll have my a team sedate her and pick her up.”

“She’s harmless, she does not need any sedating.”

Sasuke looked up from his ipad to Naruto, giving him a genuine look of displeasure.

“Maybe you can grab your stethoscope thingy and maybe check her out really quickly?” Naruto gave an innocent looking smile. “She don’t bite.”

“No,” Sasuke said.

“Are you scared? Don’t be, I’ll hold your hand. I can keep the others off-“

“It is not about rather I am scared or not. I need to make an ultra sound and the equipment is at the medical unit. I need her to be still, on her back, long enough for me to get a clear image.”

Naruto sighed.

“So, you are pussy?” He said with a small smirk. “Get is…Pussy….Big cats…” he pointed at the lions behind him.

“Pussy is short for pusillanimous. It means showing lack courage, timid even.”

“….I did not know that.”

“That is why your pun made no sense.” Sasuke looked at Naruto who was started to get it warm. He pulled on his collar and cleared it throat.

“So….” Naruto stretched his arms before putting them behind his head, “where’re you from? You don’t look like you were born around here?”

“My shift has ended.” Sasuke walked towards the door.

“No wait, Sasukeh!” Naruto called out, holding the bars in his hands. “The cage automatically locks, can you open it? The keys are hanging on the wall.”

Sasuke looked at the keys before looking back at Naruto who had a big dumb smile spread across his face.

“You’ll figure it out, Usuratonkachi.” He said with a devilish smirk on his face before walking away.

“Sasukeh?...Are you serious? Is this because I asked where you were from? Sasuke…..SASUKEEEEEHHH!!!”


	2. The Lion King

Naruto slowly stroked Sarabi’s head as she was laying unconscious on the table. Her paws were strapped down and she almost appeared dead. Naruto wasn’t fund of seeing her this way, but he knew it had to be done. She didn’t even seem to want to get out of her cage this morning. She didn’t want to go to the enclosure and run around. She was just lying on her side, looking in pain.

“Doctor is running a little late,” Sakura said, checking her phone for any messages. She put her phone away before muttering about probably needing more sedatives.

“I thought you said he was a good at his job.” Naruto folded his arms and looked slightly annoyed.

“Everybody can have one of those days. Why don’t you grab some coffee and relax a little. It is probably nothing.”

“Probably.” Naruto sighed, walking out of the room.

It was when he just entered the other room he could see the door open and Sasuke walking in. He put his bag down and threw his jacket on the chair before grabbing his lab coat from the hanger.

“Where have you been!? We have been waiting for half an hour-” Naruto stopped talking as he looked at Sasuke’s eyes. They were red and a bit swollen, like he has been crying for a long time. He could see Sasuke avoiding eye-contact.

“A-are you alright?” Naruto’s voice immediately turned from angry to concerned.

“Yes, of course. I am!” Sasuke said annoyed. He walked towards the other room, seeing the lion already strapped down. He quickly apologised for being late to Sakura. She told him not to worry about it and went to get more sedatives, leaving Naruto alone with Sasuke who was starting the machine, shoving the cart near him as he pushed the hair from his face to have a better look at the monitor.

“Are you sure you’re up to the task?” Naruto asked. He immediately regretted speaking up when he saw Sasuke suddenly glare at him, while gritting his teeth. He made a groaning sound. The glare looked familiar…It reminded him an awful lot of Kiara.

“My contacts were irritating my eyes, that’s all” The Uchiha said firmly. His voice clearly indicated for Naruto to drop the subject right away. Sakura returned with the sedative which Sasuke inserted as she grabbed a gel and spread it across the lioness belly.

“Are you looking for babies? She is 17 months-”

“Will you let me do my job or do you want me to kick you out because I will!” Sasuke snapped at the blond. “if you have studied veterinary medicine for eight additional years after your undergrad and have five years of additional experience, you are allowed to take over any time you want. ” he added under his breath.

Sakura looked over at Naruto, not sure if she was amused or a little sorry for the zookeeper.

“Sorry doc…” Naruto muttered.

“Don’t call me doc…or dog-ter.” Sasuke muttered, muttering a few swear in a foreign language that sounded like Japanese. It seems Naruto had finally unravelled one mystery at least.

“So uhm…Can you see anything without your lenses?” Naruto asked, looking at the grey image on the monitor. He couldn’t make anything out of it.

“What lenses…I have perfect vision..” Sasuke hissed, not paying too much attention to Naruto.

“See that?” Sasuke’s hand reached for the screen, he pointed with his finger on some dark grey mass.

“Yeah…” Naruto said, not sure what he was looking at.

“This is the stomach.” Sasuke circled a spot on the monitor. “ See that dense mass I am pointing at, that appears to be a lump in the wall of the stomach. Which is quite rare in lions.” Sasuke looked at Sakura, who walked up to the computer and made a few copies. Of the echo images.

“Wait...Are you telling me Sarabi has a tumor?”

“Possibly ” Sasuke said, grabbing the copy from Sakura.

“So…So what are we going to do?...Do we give lion chemo treatment?” 

Sakura narrower her eyes at her friend, not sure if he was plain stupid or just trying to make a joke.

“No, we don’t.” Sasuke said while Sakura slowly shook her head, making quick eye contact with her boss.

“I will have to discuss this with board of the zoo” Sasuke said, grabbing a chart and writing something down on it . “There are certain expenses to be made. I will have to get a clear idea what we are dealing with, where the lump exactly is, if I could possibly use radiation treatment or …surgery”

Sasuke looked up from his paper to scan Naruto’s facial expression. He seemed worried, much like a father getting bad news of his actual baby girl.

“What if the board doesn’t want to spend any money on her treatment?” Naruto asked, knowing full well all the board of the zoo cared about was money.

“Well, lions are endangered species and lionesses are valuable to keep them from going extinct. They cannot refuse treatment they will have to hand the lioness over to another party who is willing to pay for it.”

“They are going to take Sarabi away from me?!” Naruto raised his voice.

“It is for her own good” the Uchiha said emotionless. “Aren’t they going to ask your professional opinion? I expect the primary keeper to be present at such meeting.”

“No…Not when it is about money.” Naruto said.

Sasuke sighed and got up. He put his hand on Naruto’s shoulder as he passed him on his way out, “Life sucks. I know too well.”

Later in the day Naruto was struggling combing Simba’s fur.

“Simba, sit still. You wanted me to brush you hair or not?” Naruto sighed, feeling the tongue of Kiara suddenly lick his cheek. He turned his head at the big cat.

“I can’t tell you why, Kiara. But yes…I am upset” Naruto sighed, “No, no it has nothing to do with your behaviour…Well …A little”

The lioness sat down, her head rubbing against Naruto’s arm. The blond stopped brushing Simba as he just sat there. He felt another head rub against his side. He looked at Nala, who seemed to have made her way to Naruto too.

“You guys know me too well, believe it” Naruto patted Nala’s head. He suddenly heard a whistle, causing him and all three lions to look at the same direction. Sasuke waved quickly from behind the fence of the enclosure. Naruto got up and jumped off the wooden platform. He walked out of the enclosure and towards Sasuke.

“So the male is Simba…The one on the right is Nala and the left is Kiara?” Sasuke asked, pointing at the lionesses.

“The one on the right is Kiara. left is Nala” Naruto said, “but you aren’t here to remember my lions’ names”

“Why are they all named after Lion King characters?” Sasuke frowned slightly as he looked at them, “did you name them?”

Naruto remained quiet for a few seconds.

“Depends…Do you think they are clever names?” he asked, scratching the back of his head.

“Back in Iwagakure, I met some families who had taken cubs in and they had to give them away because they were getting too dangerous. They were mostly named after Lion King characters.” Sasuke leaned slightly in to get a better look at the lions. Naruto stared at Sasuke’s eyes examine his lions. He had brushed his hair back, revealing his violet coloured eye.

“So my originality has been set back then,” Naruto commented. Sasuke ignored his words when he looked at Kiara, she was walking suspiciously close to the fence as if she was attempting to jump over it, not that she could. Naruto wondered if he had heard him, but when he saw Sasuke close his eyes and take a deep breath. He could only assume what was about to come next….

“I come bearing some bad news” Sasuke said, causing Naruto’s heart to hurt right away. Sasuke looked at the zookeeper from the corner of his eye, “I talked to the board. They found the expenses too much for one lion. They think if they keep three lions instead of four. It won’t be much of a difference to the public”

“You told them right?…That Sarabi is not just…Not just an attraction!” Naruto clenched a fist, turning his head away from vet. Sasuke remained quiet and broke eye contact.

“How can they do this? I have to give them a piece of my mind!” Naruto insisted, ready to storm off.

“Mr Uzumaki, don’t” Sasuke grabbed him by his arm.

Naruto was surprised how strong Sasuke’s grip was around his arm, but it softened when Naruto stayed.

“You are angry. Pissed off. Take the day off, go home…Process-”

“Yeah, I am not taking that from a guy who came to work crying!” Naruto regretted his words when he saw Sasuke’s expression change for a moment, before turning back to his emotionless one. He seemed sad and a bit shocked that Naruto saw through his lie 

“Go home, Mr Uzumaki” Sasuke said before walking away from the lion enclosure.

“Wait, Sasuke! Does this mean they are going to take Sarabi from me?” Naruto raised his voice so Sasuke could hear him. The raven looked over his shoulder.

“Most likely, Mr Uzumaki” he said.

Naruto’s felt a massive knot in his stomach, his heart ached before he turned angerly away and punched the fence, cursing under his breath. He looked over at the three lions that were inside the enclosure. Nobody knew how much they meant to him. To an orphan boy, growing up alone in the world. These lions were the closets thing he had to a family.

The news had taken a real toll on the zookeeper. After his shift he went with his close friend to their favourite bar to drink away the sorrows of the day.

“They are going to take her away from me…My baby girl” Naruto looked at his empty cocktail glass, his head was on the bar as he turned it to the left to look at his friend and co-worker, Kiba. He was head-keeper of the wolves.

“I know how you feel. If it were one of my boys...I would feel the same..” Kiba said, taking the last sip of beer before ordering another. The bartender gave the both of them a weird look.

“We are zookeepers” Naruto clarified. Suddenly everything made sense to the bartender.

“I can’t imagine how much this sucks for you,” Kiba sighed, holding the other bottle of beer.

“I was going to kidnap her from the zoo, keep her home …But if the zoo can’t afford her medical treatment…How can I?”

“Hhhmmm!” Kiba swallowed fast, snapping his fingers “Get a sugar daddy!”

“Genius!” Naruto raised his glass before putting it back down. Turns out it was empty.

“Yes, you guys take Sarabi back to Iwagakure and cure her there or something…Take all the babies!” Kiba was excited about his idea. “Hey!” he shouted, turning around his stool, “any rich woman or man here who wanna marry my friend and save some babies?!”

There was no reaction other than some chuckles.

“Nah?...He cute though! Bisexual, fucks like a lion. Big dick-“ Kiba got pulled back towards the bar by Naruto.

“Sush Kiba!” Naruto pushed the palm of his hand on his friend’s mouth, “I am mourning”

“Nah you’re drunk” Kiba said as he got up from the stool. “I …I gotta pee” he said, walking towards the bathroom. Naruto leaned his head back on the bar table. The alcohol couldn’t even numb him enough to not feel the emptiness of losing Sarabi.

“Cute, queer and a big dick? Almost checks off my entire list”

Naruto raised his head before looking behind him.

“Uchiha” Naruto had to narrow his eyes to see Sasuke clearly, “believe me! How did you find me!”

“Turns out my assistant and you were dating for a year. She remembered your bar.” Sasuke scanned the bar, but did not seem too pleased with it.

“Aah Sweeetttt Sakuraaaa~..What happened with patience-doctor-”

“You are not the patient” Sasuke interrupted him as he looked at the bartender, “scotch on the rocks.” He indicated two with his hand before mouthing a quick ‘thank you’.

“What ya doing here, hot shot!?” Naruto turned his chair, almost falling if it wasn’t for Sasuke pocking his forehead and helping him regain his balance.

“Grabbing a drink,” Sasuke said, shoving one of the glasses to Naruto before titling the other. “Just like you and your girlfriend?” 

Naruto looked confused at the statement the vet made. He looked down at the empty cocktail glass that contained a curly staw and several extravagant accessories and then to the beer bottle that belonged to Kiba.

“No, that’s mine” Naruto laughed, indicating to the empty cocktail glass. “I’ve been single for a while now.”

“My bad,” Sasuke said before raising his glass, “on Sarabi, then.”

“Sarabi..” The blond sighed, putting his glass back down. His expression had saddened again.

“Hey,” Sasuke caught Naruto’s attention. “You know, where I am from we have this…Tradition-“

“Where are you from?” Naruto asked, “Kusa no Kuni?”

“Otogakure.” Sasuke said causing Naruto to snap his fingers, muttering that he should've known 

“My parents are. I was born in Konoha”

“Your English is flawless.” Naruto stated.

“So, we have this tradition…” Sasuke grabbed a peanut from the bar table and balanced it on top of Naruto’s nose, “If you can eat the peanut without touching it with your hands, great fortune awaits you.”

“You came here to do some…Weird…Voodoo stuff?” Naruto looked at his nose. He moved his head up, but the peanut fell off his nose on the ground.

“Again” Sasuke said, shoving the bowl of peanuts to Naruto.

“….Great fortune…Believe it…” Naruto muttered, trying it again and again until he had finally caught the peanut in the mouth. He looked excited at Sasuke, who was grinning, shaking his head before proceeding to clap slowly.

“What?” Naruto looked confused before it hit him. He rested his head back on the bar table before sighing, “You were lying weren’t you?”

Sasuke chuckled, Naruto couldn’t help but to wonder how somebody looking so beautiful and cute could be so mean. There was no doubt in his mind, he was the devil. There was no other explanation. 

“I taught my dog that trick. Took him about 5 minutes less than it took you” the vet admitted, putting some cash on the bar table.

“Drinks are on me.”

“Why? Because you feel bad for fucking with me?” Naruto raised his head from the table, finishing his drink with one swift motion.

“Mr Uzumaki, I would never regret fucking you.”

Naruto looked cluelessly at Sasuke. Was he saying what he thought he was saying or was he not thinking straight? Either way he started to wonder if the vet was flirting with him.

“I didn’t come here to make a fool out of you.” Sasuke took a sip from his drink before putting it down and looking back at Naruto, “Your face does it for you”

“You are mean” Naruto stated.

“I came here for a different reason,” Sasuke put his hand on Naruto’s, causing the blue eyes to look at him in surprise. “I know hearing about Sarabi was painful and even though I can’t convince the board to pay the medical expenses and I can’t magically make your baby girl feel better-“

“You made me sad again…’” Naruto was about to go back into his sulking mode, but Sasuke cupped his face with his hand, forcing Naruto to look at him instead of resting his head back on the filthy bar table.

“ But….I did arrange for her to stay under your care while she will receive all the medical attention she needs.”

“…What…What…did the board-”

“No…The board didn’t do shit” Sasuke said harshly, letting go of Naruto’s face. “But I called in a favour by an old friend. He has a rather wealthy organisation that is willing to provide me with everything I need to help Sarabi to the best of my abilities.”

“You did that…For me?” Naruto’s eyes started tearing up and he wrapped his arms around Sasuke, pulling him in for a big and tight hug. “You do like me!”

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for your _baby girl_” Sasuke said.

“Sush, I know you like me!” Naruto insisted, breaking the hug and proceeded to cup Sasuke’s face between his hands, trying to kiss him on the lips. Sasuke pulled away, causing Naruto to almost fall from the stool.

“I have a boyfriend.” Sasuke said, seeing Naruto trying to stabilize himself on the stool. His face had turned redder than before and his eyes were panicking.

“believe me, I ‘m so sorry...”

“I didn’t mean to lead you on.” Sasuke looked away.

“Gosh you’re making it worse.” Naruto hid his face between his hand.

“I should go,” Sasuke said before leaving the bar.

Naruto felt his heart beat quickly in his chest and all he could feel was the overwhelming embarrassment wash over him. He was so sure Sasuke was coming on to him…Did he not read the signs right, was he that big of an asshole that he assumed Sasuke was just into him because he was gay and sort of nice to him?

“Hey dude...You alright?” Kiba asked as he returned from the bathroom.

“Yeah…Yeah, I just need to get home! Believe me, I’ll be alright.” Naruto said as he got up, leaving his friend behind confused.

“You take one fifteen minute dump and the world just changes…” Kiba muttered as he turned back to the bar.


	3. Drunk

“Aww sweetie. Here I was thinking I was gonna lose you” Naruto rubbed his cheek against Sarabi’s. He had just guided the other lions to the enclosure, but the sick lioness stayed in the cage. She didn’t seem to mind it, in fact she seemed to prefer to stay behind with her caregiver. She moved her head to lean on Naruto’s shoulder, closing her eyes and purring like the big cat she was.

“Sarabi, I’m sure you are going to be fine! You are young and strong and you are my baby girl after all! We Uzumaki’s don’t go down without a fight!” He said before kissing her head.

“You weren’t exaggerating about this guy”

Naruto looked at the cage door and could see an unfamiliar men. He had grey wild hair that was sticking up in all directions and was wearing a face mask. Next to him stood Sasuke, with his same emotionless look he always had. He made a confirming sound before indicating to Naruto to come to them.

The zookeeper walked out of the cage and just stood in front of the opening, blocking the path of the lioness so she wouldn’t wander off and scare the two vets.

“Mr Uzumaki, this is Kakashi Hatake. He and I will be working together” Sasuke said indicating to the strange men. He looked slightly more annoyed than he usually was. Naruto wondered if it had anything to do with him trying to kiss the vet.

Kakashi extended his hand to Naruto and the zookeeper shook it firmly.

“You have no idea how grateful I am. I was so afraid they would give her away…” Naruto said, giving Kakashi a genuinely smile. Naruto could only assume Kakashi was smiling back.

“It is nice to meet the lion-whisperer,” Kakashi said amused, “ Or the daddy-lion as Sasuke likes to call you.”

Naruto could see Sasuke glare at Kakashi from the corner of his eye. So, turns out Sasuke talked about him with Kakashi.

“I didn’t know Sasuke liked calling me daddy” Naruto smirked, but the expression quickly disappeared when he saw Sasuke glare at him. He cleared his throat, looking away from Sasuke before asking,:” Uhm…So...You two know each other from Vet school?”

“Actually we have met during Veterinarians Without Boarders. We have spent many years saving animals, mostly lions in Iwagakure.”

“My lions are from there, believe it!” Naruto said excitedly, “when they were cubs. They were transported here.”

“We have to get going. There a preparations to be made and many aspects to be discussed” Sasuke interrupted the conversation. Naruto wondered if Sasuke was trying to get away from him as quickly as possible after what had happened the other night. He felt the embarrassment return.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr Uzumaki” Kakashi said, shaking the man’s hand one more time.

“Oh, call me Naruto” The blond said with a smile. Kakashi nodded, it seemed the vet liked him.

“We’ll be giving you additional information on what to feed her and when we will be taken her in.” Sasuke informed as he walked towards the door.

“Sasuke wait,” Naruto quickly reached out to him before he was gone, grabbing him by his arm to make him stop. Sasuke turned his head around, looking from Naruto’s arm to his eyes. He pulled his arm back before folding his them over his chest, looking extremely displeased.

“Uhm…About…Yesterday..”

“It is alright, really” The Uchiha said, he seemed genuine with his words.

“I just feel so bad...I was just so happy with the news and I had a few…I wasn’t thinking and it-“

“It is fine, usuratonkachi” Sasuke repeated, “Don’t waste your brain worrying about it.” He walked quickly away.

“Did he just call me stupid?” Naruto muttered to himself before turning to Sarabi. She didn’t seem to have an opinion on the matter.

The first half of Naruto’s shift went by faster than he imagined. When it was time to take a break he was just leaving the lion enclosure to find his friend until somebody called out to him. Naruto turned his head, seeing a handsome man waking up to him.

“Excuse me,” He said kindly.

Naruto was eyeing the man quickly. He reminded him an awful lot of….Sasuke. He had the same pale complexion, hair and eyes. The only difference was that his eyes were both a dark shade of brown, almost resembling black.

“Are you related to the vet?” Naruto asked with a smile, “Doctor Uchiha?”

“Yes, I’m his brother,” the man said, “I was actually looking for him. I couldn’t find him in his office. Did you see him?”

“Not since this morning,” Naruto informed him.

“That’s too bad…” The man’s facial expression almost resembling a pouting one, “ I am Itachi by the way. You must be Naruto.”

Naruto looked surprised how the men knew his name, he looked down his shirt to check if he had his name tag on, but he had lost that a year ago.

“Sasuke talks very fondly about you and your lions.”

“He does? Wow...I always get the impression I’m bugging him.” Naruto sighed, remembering when he had made a big fool of himself by attempting to make out with Sasuke. He felt his cheeks slightly fluster by the memory.

“Well last week he told me all about your bond with your lions. It sound amazing how deep you connected to such wild animals.”

“They are not ‘wild’ animals…” Naruto tried to defend his lions behaviour and he could hear Itachi chuckle and take his words back.

“I figured if my little brother wasn’t in his office he must be off to watch the lions. They’re one of his favourite animals.”

“I didn’t know he liked lions so much. He seems awfully afraid of them. I offered him to pat my lions, but he seemed not interested. He rather has them lying unconsciously on a metal table, bounded…”

“Sasuke loves lions. When he was a kid he constantly watched the Lion King and loved going to the zoo. He would even try to raw like lion. He was such an cute child. I think his fascination with animals started there. It is just unfortunate our father never did see the need for animals. They weren’t really on the same page…”

Naruto wondered if Itachi was aware that Sasuke shared minimum details about his life, and here was his brother going about their childhood like he was giving a presentation on Sasuke. Naruto didn’t mind hearing it, he was fascinated on how two people, raised by the same parents under one roof managed to come out so differently. Right now he had a slight preference for talking to Itachi.

“**_Niisan_**!”

Naruto turned his head to see the angry vet standing there. He probably heard some of the conversation and hated his brother for sharing his conflicted relationship with his father.

“**_Otouto~”_** Itachi, unlike Naruto, did not seem to fear Sasuke . He went in for a hug, but Sasuke didn’t seem to want any of it.

“What are you doing here?” Sasuke hissed, looking at Naruto for a second before turning back to his brother.

“Checking in on my baby brother who apparently called my fiancée and retracted his plus one on my wedding day. Why didn’t you call me? Text me? Wrote me? Emailed me?”

“Izumi…Fucking snitch,” Sasuke muttered.

“Lovely brother you got there, Dr.Uchiha” Naruto said, catching the attention of both Uchihas.

“You’re both Veterinarians?” Naruto asked surprised at when Itachi also looked up.

“Sort of, my expertise are human brains and…Sasukes” he poked his little brother’s forehead, something Naruto vaguely remembered Sasuke doing to him when he almost fell off his stool.

“God fucking damn you…” Sasuke cursed under his breath, “I have an elephant to examine. Please if it isn’t your dog dying, don’t bother me.”

Itachi looked confused.

“I don’t have a dog...Are you talking about Izumi? ”

“Indeed, I am. Tell her I am no longer facebook friends with her and she should stop tagging me in Dog-ter memes!” Sasuke sounded pissed.

“**Otouto**, are you really mad her or are you mad about breaking up with your boyfriend?” Itachi asked, causing the vet to stiffen. The annoyed expression turned into a hateful one. Itachi had dropped a bomb, and it turned out to be a nuclear one.

Naruto looked from Itachi to Sasuke and back to Itachi. Did Sasuke break up with his boyfriend after what happened last night? Was he single? Why would he be pissed? Is this why he was crying the other day? What was going on?

“It was mutual” Sasuke answered after a few seconds of silence. He seemed to be repressing the urge to throw Itachi over the railing and into the lion pit. “I’m fine.”

“Are you though? I’m your brother you can tell me everything. I took the day off, why don’t we go get your stuff and have you settled in the guest room, you should be around family-“

“I don’t need your pity!” Sasuke snapped. Naruto swore he saw Sasuke fight the urge to give Itachi that push.

“If you don’t mind…I have an elephant to exam now…” he said taking a deep breath before storming off.

“He is a tough one, ya know…” Naruto commented, not liking the awkward silence.

“You don’t know half of it….” Itachi sighed, “I’m sorry you had to see that. Sasuke can be very tempered.”

“Yeah I know…He locked me in a cage with the lions.” Naruto mentioned.

“I’m sorry about that…” Itachi apologised for his younger brother. He seemed conflicted on what to do next, should be give Sasuke space…Should he go after him? He didn’t know.

“Don’t worry, believe me, I will keep an eye out for him.” Naruto tried to assure Itachi.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.” He grabbed a card from his wallet and handed it to Naruto. “Just…Give me a call if something happens.”

“Sure.” Naruto assured him. Itachi seemed to be doubtful again and grabbed another card and handed it to him.

“In case there is a lawyer needed…” Itachi added before taking his leave.

Naruto looked down at the card Itachi gave him. “Defence attorney Shisui Uchiha…How many siblings does that guy have?”

Naruto was true to his words. He did take the occasional walk to the medical unit with the excuse to talk to Sakura. There did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Sasuke was just doing his job as always. Walking around the zoo to do his rounds or doing small procedures in the medical unit. He figured Itachi was just being a little overprotective and whatever break-up Sasuke was going through must be on his terms for him to be unbothered.

When Naruto entered the medical unit for the fifth time that day, he was surprised to not find Sakura.

“What are you doing here this time,” Sasuke asked, he was at his desk working on his files, probably updating the medical files of all the animals he had examined today.

“Oh, I was just looking for Sakura.” Naruto said, letting the door close behind him.

“Her shift ended an hour ago,” Sasuke said, putting a file bag before rolling his chair to another cabinet and grabbing another big map.

“That’s too bad. Well, I do have an extra cup of coffee now. You want it?” Naruto asked, putting the cup down

“What is it?” Sasuke asked looking at the cup.

“Pumpkin spice” Naruto said as he sat down on the empty corner of Sasuke’s desk.

“I’ll take it,” Sasuke said as he took a sip and leaned back in his chair. “Did my brother put you up to this?”

“No, I bought this coffee myself, believe it!” Naruto said, acting surprised.

“Come one, You have come and gone with silly excuses five times now. I saw you follow me from the snakes to the pandas.”

“I wasn’t following you, I work here.” He said, clearing his throat when he saw Sasuke’s glare at him.

“Fine, I offered to keep an eye out, only because he is so nice and handsome I couldn’t let him keep that worried expression on his face.” Naruto took a sip from his coffee, examining Sasuke’s face, he had an expression on his face Naruto was not familiar with…Perhaps jealousy?

“Y’know you two look alike. Do you have more siblings?” Naruto tried to stir the conversation to something else.

“No, just the one.” Sasuke said, looking down at the coffee cup.

“Who is this Shisui Uchiha then?”

“Damn, did he give you my cousin’s card?” Sasuke looked up, annoyed again.

“So your cousin is a defence attorney?”

“Yeah, he is my lawyer, but only because I don’t have pay for his services.” Sasuke sighed. “I don’t think I should ever relay on his services. He came to me one day with a dead goldfish and ask if I could examine it and ‘fix it’.”

“Really?”

“I’m not making this up,” Sasuke sighed, looking at his cup of coffee.

“So…How are you doing?” Naruto asked, putting his keys down on the desk so they weren’t poking his leg.

“I am fine,” Sasuke said.

“So…Can I ask why you two broke up?”

“People just grow apart.” Sasuke said, “ I had the rip the bandage off someday.”

“True, it is sad to come to such realisations. Well, you can always stay friends. It works for me and Sakura.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I can do that.” Sasuke said, writing some things down in the map before closing it and putting it away.

“Say, will you ever tell me how you got a violet eye? Or is the mystery a part of your appeal?”

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at Naruto, muttering what a dumbass he was.

“I was born with it, **usuratonkachi**” Sasuke said.

“You’re very mean, you know that?”

Sasuke nodded, causing Naruto to chuckle.

“But you’re hot, so I guess you get away with almost everything.”

“I am not immune to the law, Naruto.”

“No, but you’re hot, smart and little mean but you got that brat energy around you, if you know what I mean?” Naruto smirked, but Sasuke looked confused.

“I don’t…” Sasuke said.

“Maybe it is for the best,’ Naruto finished his coffee and threw the cup in the bin before getting up. “I just know if it was me you were dating. I would never let you go.”

“That sort of sounds like something a stalker would say” Sasuke commented, causing Naruto to laugh.

“I’ll have to say. I’m impressed how you take break-ups.”

“It was mutual.”

“Was it? I mean, I bet the guy is a mess right now. I know I would be if you were to walk out of my life…” Sasuke looked up from his work at Naruto who felt his cheeks getting flustered. Did he talk himself into a ditch again.

“Y’know…Assuming I had you in the first place…Not that you’re anybody’s possession….I should stop talking.”

“You should,” Sasuke looked away.

“I’ll go. My shift is almost over.”

“Yeah.”

Naruto got up and headed towards the door.

“Naruto,” He could hear Sasuke say his name. He turned around, seeing the vet give him a small smile.

“You don’t have to check up on me anymore, alright?”

“Okay,” Naruto left the medical unit. He was one of the last people to leave. He finished up putting his duties, changed his clothes and headed to gates of the zoo. He reached for his keys, but couldn’t find them. He looked in his bag and in his jacket. Confused, Naruto looked at the parking lot behind the gates. Almost all cars were gone except for two. One parked in the front that belonged to Naruto and another parked a few rows back.

“Medical unit…” Naruto rolled his eyes remembering putting his keys on the desk when he checked up on Sasuke. He could only assume the other car belonged to the vet since he hadn’t seen Sasuke leave. He walked back to the medical unit. He was surprised that all the lights were off. He was sure he hadn’t seen Sasuke leave the zoo. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside.

“Uhm…Sasuke?” Naruto walked inside, turning the lights on and looked around. Nobody was there. Perhaps Sasuke did leave and forgot to lock up? It seemed unusual for him. Naruto headed to the desk and grabbed his keys. He was about to leave the medical unit, before hearing a sniff. It was very soft and for a moment Naruto thought he had imagined it, but then he heard it again.

He walked back towards the desk, slowly walking around it. He kneeled down and right under the desk he saw Sasuke sitting there. His legs were pulled up to his chest and he was covering his mouth with one hand while holding a half-empty bottle of scotch with the other.

“Sasuke...” Naruto felt a knot in his stomach. Turns out Sasuke was not fine, and all he was doing was drowning himself in work and putting up a strong face. Naruto should have known better. The Uchiha reeked of alcohol. He was staring at his knees.

Naruto slowly reached for the bottle, trying to take it away from Sasuke. The Uchiha looked up at him, almost staring through him. Naruto took the bottle and put it away.

“You wanna talk?” Naruto asked, extending a hand for the other to take. Sasuke didn’t respond to him.

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you home? Your shift ended hours ago…” Naruto tried carefully grabbing Sasuke’s arm and tried pulling him out from under the desk, and it was surprisingly easy.

“Home?” Sasuke whispered, “I live with my boyfriend…Ex-boyfriend”

“I thought…You two had a mutual break-up?”

“Mutual break-up my ass!”Sasuke scoffs. “I can’t even go back home. I can’t even look at his fucking face…”

“I’ll drive you to your brother’s then.” Naruto said remembering Itachi.

“Fuck him.”

“Itachi seemed pretty nice-”

“Not him!” Sasuke interrupted Naruto “The fucking asshole I wasted three years of my life with…” Sasuke mumbled before chuckling.

“You will think I have enough self-respect to break up with some fucker when he cheats on you once. No….I had to make it last a year. The guts that asshole had…” Sasuke shook his head. Naruto carefully tried to help Sasuke get up from the floor, but the Uchiha refused.

“I used to work for Vets without borders, y’know” Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s face with both hand, looking right at the blue eyes. “I was gone for months. On missions. I saved…So many animals. Whales…Tigers…Wolves…Elephants…Lions. It felt like I ..I made the difference y’know…So I thought.”

“Let’s get you out of that lab coat…” Naruto said, taking Sasuke’s lab coat off and throwing it behind him. “You need some coffee or water?” His question got ignored.

“I thought…I could proof my father wrong…That being a veterinarian had a purpose. He wanted me to be like brother. But I hate humans…Human hurt….Animals don’t fucking judge!” Sasuke hissed. “I cannot imagine how people start to judge me…My ex..The guy I wasted three years of my life with. The man I was going to get engaged to and married, adopt…dogs with, cheated on me…Repeatedly….And I…I blamed myself. “ Sasuke shook his head before looking up at Naruto.

“You didn’t deserve that” Naruto said, he was surprised at how it took half of bottle of strong liquor to get Sasuke to open up but also he felt angry hearing how awful his former boyfriend was.

“No, I did!” Sasuke said, he seemed sincere in his words, like he actually believed it was all his fault.

“I thought…Of course he was going to get lonely when I was gone for months. I figured…As long as it is just sex…I wouldn’t mind.” Sasuke suddenly grabbed Naruto by his arm.

“But then I quit my job and he didn’t stop, we were constantly arguing and he always made me feel like such an asshole. That I drove him to this and it was my fault. And then when I convinced myself this is not what I want. He made himself seem like such a victim of some…vicious disease or…animal instinct, he could not control. That he couldn’t help himself. And ya know what I thought? I thought…Fine…Some men pick them noses, other men gamble…My men just fucks some hoes…It was just a bad habit, it could have been worse... I was so stupid…You know what it is called?”

“An asshole act?” Naruto guessed, feeling Sasuke’s grip around his arm tighten.

“No…Low self-esteem.” He grinded his teeth.

Naruto swallowed loudly, feeling a little afraid of Sasuke.

“Okay. Calm down…Take a deep breath…” Naruto had to pull his arm back. His fingers started to feel numb.

“ I blame my parents.They always made me feel like I was not good enough to be loved. That there was not one person in the world that would stay with me. No…I’m the bag of trash and my brother…My fucking brother was just the best. Everybody fucking loves him…And everybody hates me…”

“That’s awful, your parents shouldn’t have said that.” Naruto said sympathetically. “You’re a bit of an asshole, but…You’re nice when it counts.”

Sasuke’s expression turned from angry to sad and his hand cupped Naruto’s cheek, pulling him a little closer.

“You’re so nice. Why are you so nice to me? Nobody has called me pretty or smart before…”

“Really?” Naruto voice came out a bit funny with his lips being pushed together. Sasuke laughed.

“Even then when you tried to kiss me. I wanted to kiss you back so badly,” he smiled, “But my fucking morals were in the way. Fuck, I would have done you right there on the bar table.”

“Uhm…Thanks?” Naruto wasn’t sure what to say. He was feeling a little flustered.

“But nooo~, I just had to say no and then I went home and saw some fucking hoe riding that fucking asshole’s dick .I don’t have a lot of self-respect , alright. Fuck, I am scum…But fucking a hoe in my bed…Letting that hoe wear my shirt…No…Just…No..” Sasuke sighed, “even scum has that much self-respect”

“They were wearing your shirt?” Naruto asked shocked.

“Yeah…My favourite shirt.”

“Sasuke…” Naruto sighed he wasn’t sure what to say.

“Nobody deserves that. Your ex, he is an jackass, an asshole. He never deserved you. I mean…Look at you. You are not only super-hot, you are smart…You care… You make funny comments. You’re keeping it real. You just say what you think. I admire that, even if it makes you assholes at times. I mean…That jerk didn’t know what he had.”

“You really think I am pretty?” Sasuke asked, turning his head to look at Naruto. He had a pouting expression on his face.

“That is not even a question, believe me” Naruto smiled kindly. He suddenly felt Sasuke pull him closer.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better… My whole life people just called me weird.” Sasuke muttered something in his native language.

“Did I not try to kiss you last night?” Naruto felt less awkward knowing Sasuke was tempted to kiss him back that night.

“…I owe you that much..” Sasuke capturing Naruto’s lips with his own. Naruto quickly backed off after the first contact of their lips.

“You’re drunk, you don’t know what you’re doing…” Naruto got shushed by Sasuke.

“I am also a depressed puddle of my own pathetic tears. I want this. Bitch, I need this” Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his collar and pulled him closer. He lost his balance in the process and fell on his back, pulling Naruto with him. Naruto felt the blood rush to his head when he looking down at Sasuke, lying under him.

“Fine-” Naruto couldn’t finish his sentence. He closed his eyes feeling the Uchiha’s soft lips on his. Sasuke wrapped his other arm around Naruto’s neck, his fingers moving to his hair. He could feel the vet move, getting up from the ground and pushing Naruto roughly against the cabinet behind his desk before sitting on his lap.

It was hard for Naruto to imagine anyone ever cheating him. He was just perfect in every way. His were so soft and perfect,his hips moving over his crotch. His hand in the blond hair, grabbing a fist full of hair, pulling it lighting. His other hand was on Naruto’s chest, pulling a bit on the collar of his shirt. It is like he wanted to rip it.

“Sa-sasuke” Naruto broke the kiss. A moan escaped his lips when he felt Sasuke’s tongue slide over his neck and roughly dig his teeth on the base of the neck before licking over the slightly injured skin.

“Well fuck” Naruto hissed. The mood was getting pretty hot now.

“Yeah, exactly” Sasuke whispered in his ear, feeling Naruto’s hand slide down his lower back to his butt.

“You will hate me for this.” Naruto said.

“I won’t.”

“Then screw it”

“Exactly.”

Sasuke yelped as Naruto got up and threw Sasuke over his shoulder. 

“I am going to take you to your brother’s. I am sorry Sasuke”

“Uzumaki Naruto let me go!” Sasuke kicked his legs in the air.

“It is for your own good You will thank me in the morning!” Naruto shouted, he had difficulties keeping Sasuke over his shoulder as he was moving too much.

“Let me go!” Sasuke kept shouting.

“No you need this confrontation. You have issues and you’re projecting it on me!” Naruto shouted as he made his way outside of the zoo and to the parking lot. He opened his car and put Sasuke down on the passenger seat.

“Don’t! If you are going to play the good guy...Just…Drop me off a motel…No, I take that back, those are dirty, take me to a hotel, three stars or more-”

“Why…Shouldn’t I just drop you off at your brother’s?” Naruto sighed, sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Because….He doesn’t know.”

“He didn’t know your boyfriend was cheating on you or that he was cheating on you and you knew about it? Or that you’re not fine after your so called ‘mutual’ break up?”

“Yes, to all of that,” Sasuke said, “That is why I like animals, they don’t judge”

“I am not judging, Sasuke. I’m….I’m angry for you. Hearing this makes me want to punch this guy right in the face”

“Yeah I did…I did kick hole in all his artwork…calling me his muse, like hell I was.”

Naruto couldn’t help but to chuckle.

“Please, just drop me of at a hotel. “

“You know what…I have a guest room. You can stay there”

“I don’t need your help!” Sasuke shouted. A silence filled the car and Naruto sighed deeply.

“I need your dick” Sasuke added sarcastically.

“For the love of God!” Naruto shouted, throwing his hand in the air, “you are getting the fucking guestroom. Fucking deal with it! I never have you near alcohol again! You are dangerous! Damn I liked you more when you are an asshole!”

Naruto felt a sharp pain in his arm and he turned at Sasuke who had scratched him. He frowned, not believing what he witnessed.

“Bad! Sasuke! Bad!” Naruto said in a strict tone. He was really the human form of Kiara. No doubt.

“Could you drive me to my brother…” Sasuke whispered, leaning his head against the cold window.

“Sure thing” Naruto said before looking ahead of him. “Aren’t you going to give me an address?”

“BROTHER!” Sasuke shouted.

“Fuck you!” Naruto hissed.

“IF WE DID THAT, WE WOULDN’T BE IN THIS SITUATION!” The Uchiha shouted.

“NO! BAD GIRL! I mean…Sasuke…BAD SASUKE!”


	4. I'm fine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this difficult to write because it is very hard to put Sasuke in any weak position, so I did my best and I hope it is good enough for a short-story.

“Hey, are you alright?” Sakura walked up to Naruto who looked at his three lions, running in the enclosure. It was as if they were playing tag, but in their own lion way.

“I got you some coffee” she said, handing him a the disposable mug.

“Thank you, Sakura” Naruto accepted the cup of coffee from her.

“Must have been hard to let your baby girl move to another faculty for an CT” Sakura sighed.

“It is only for a half day. She should be back any moment, so I believe” Naruto said. “Uhm...Have you spoken to Sasuke today?”

“He texted me this morning that he was going to be late and told me to go ahead and collect some urine samples from the Koalas. So, instead of that I decided to get us some coffee.”

“Did he tell you about his boyfriend?”

“No, why?” Sakura asked curiously. Naruto was doubtful to talk about last night, he decided to not share any of his concerns with Sakura.

“No reason…” Naruto sighed. “I am just in my head with Sarabi.”

“I’m sure Sasuke is doing everything he can to cure her.” Sakura put a supporting hand on Naruto’s shoulder, squeezing painfully thigh. For a second, the previous night flashed through Naruto’s head and he started the wonder; was Sasuke truly giving it his all? He seemed very occupied with everything that was apparently falling apart in his personal life. Should he even be trusted with Sarabi’s care at a time like this?

Naruto tried to shake the thought away, if it wasn’t for Sasuke’s connection, Sarabi would’ve been already gone.

“Yeah…In your professional opinion…Do you think Sasuke is good at his job?”

“He works different from Tsunade, but I haven’t encountered a moment I doubted his judgement.” Sakura finished her cup of coffee and threw it in the trash before checking the time on her phone. 

“I have to go back to work. Don’t worry too much, alright?”

Naruto nodded, watching her walk away. For a moment he allowed his mind to wonder back to the times Sakura and him were dating. It was a pity it didn’t work out between them as a couple. They were great as friends, but somehow it never clicked that well between them romantically. At least she was happier now that she was dating Lee and Naruto was glad they were happy. Maybe even a little jealous, he had remained single after breaking up with Sakura and that was almost one and half year ago.

“Mr Uzumaki…” 

Naruto turned around when he heard his name. He could see Sasuke walk towards him, but, there was something different about him, he wasn’t wearing scrubs or the style of clothes he usually wore. Naruto figured he wore something from Itachi’s since he spend the night at his brother’s. It was pretty awkward trying to drag Sasuke out of the car after he changed his mind several times about staying with his brother. Naruto had pushed him in Itachi’s arms and told him he was his problem now. The poor guy tried to apologise over and over for his younger brother. He even offered Naruto to stay for some tea, but Naruto insisted on going home. Sasuke was glaring at him the entire time before he apparently bend over and vomited on his brother’s shoes. It was….Embarrassing, even though Naruto wasn’t the type to judge. He had difficulties to not laugh out loud. One thing was for sure, Naruto was no longer embarrassed about trying to kiss Sasuke when he was wasted.

“Aren’t we past formalities, Sasuke?” Naruto asked with a small grin on his face, seeing Sasuke not return it made him stop and clear his throat, “How are you?” Naruto asked. Sasuke’s usual emotionless face broke for a mere second, showing embarrassment and regret before hardening himself.

“First things first,” he said, putting up his professional face and voice, “I want to deeply apologize for yesterday. I heard from my sibling that…You found me sleeping on the floor of the medical unit…Drunk and you brought me to my brother. Thank you for that and…It was extremely unprofessional of me and-”

“You don’t have to apologize. I know people aren’t quite themselves when they are drunk, believe me” Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. He wondered if Sasuke could recall having tried to fuck Naruto and telling him about the issues he had with his ex-boyfriend.

“Thank you” Sasuke mouthed, looking a little grateful for Naruto dropping the subject very quickly.

“So…Any news about Sarabi? ” Naruto asked.

“I will tell you everything once Hatake is done transporting Sarabi. Then I will have you summoned to my office and we will be thoroughly informing you about everything.”

“Alright, I just need to know one thing. Is deadly?” 

“I can’t tell for certain.”

“In your professional opinion?” Naruto asked.

“I don’t know.” Sasuke said, “From the imaging it did become clear that there is still a very thick muscular wall around the tumour and that is a good sign. There was also no other swelling present in the scan. So…Don’t give up hope.” The vet informed putting his hand on Naruto’s shoulder to show him some support, unlike Sakura, he did not squeeze his shoulder. His eyes suddenly had this suspicious look in them as he reached for Naruto’s face, cupping it in his hand.

Naruto’s eyes widened, looking at Sasuke clueless. Why was he frowning at him? Did he do something wrong?

“Déjà vu” Sasuke muttered.

“What are you doing?” Naruto asked awkwardly. Sasuke let go of Naruto’s face.

“You have a stupid face…” he stated, “I guess you cannot pull of that worried expression. You got to go back to smiling that dumb smile” Sasuke stated.

“Believe me, you have a weird way for trying to cheer me up…”

“But it is working” Sasuke said it as a statement when he walked off. “I will have my assistant summon you later today”

“Sure!”

It took a few hours before Sarabi was returned. She was put back in the cage where she was still sleeping, not even half an hour after that Sakura came to Naruto and together they headed to Sasuke’s office.

Naruto knocked on the door, but opened it before even getting an answer.

“What’s the point is knocking?” Sasuke asked, he seemed moody and back to his old asshole ways.

“Announcing my presence,” Naruto said before sitting in the chair next to Kakashi, greeting him with a polite handshake again. Kakashi began talking about Sarabi’s condition and what information they had required from the screening. However, Naruto couldn’t quite understand what the man was saying. It was clear Kakashi mostly worked with other professionals and had no clue of how to “dumb down” his words. Sasuke seemed to notice and after every slight pause Kakashi made, he explained what the older man had said in terms that non-veterinarians understood.

“So we have good chances?” Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

“The situation is very rare. This surgery has not been performed before.” Kakashi said.

“We both don’t have first hand experience and relay on our textbook knowledge,” Sasuke added.

“Speak for yourself.” Kakashi said, leaning back in his chair looking cocky.

“Removing the stomach from a dead lion, during autopsy, does not count.” Sasuke looked pissed at Kakashi.

“Stomach related.”

“If you count that, I can count removing a bullet perforating the stomach wall.”

“I don’t know, Sassy.”

Naruto coughed, hearing the nickname Kakashi had given Sasuke. He tried to surpass the laughter, but he couldn’t help it. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto. His eyes just threatened him if he ever called him ‘Sassy’ he was going to get his own bullet through his stomach.

“Didn’t that lion die though?” Kakashi questioned, trying to recall the memory.

Naruto’s eyes widened and he could see Sasuke surpassing the urge to jump over the desk and just strangle Kakashi for even mentioning the thought.

“It got shot. In the head. By hunters after being released.”

“You released him, I told you he needed more time to recuperate.”

“It had nothing to do with recuperation!” Sasuke raised his voice, starting to lose his patience with Kakashi.

“Besides isn’t your expertise wolves? If I have a sick little dog I will go to you but these are lions and I have more first-hand experience than you do. I was sent right out of vet school to Iwagakure to save lions. I have performed hundreds of surgeries on them. If it is anyone who should perform the surgery it should be me. Besides, this is my zoo.”

“Sassy-“

“You say that ridiculous nickname one more time and I will poison you and make it seem like an accident!”

Kakashi put his hands up in a peaceful way.

“Sasuke….” He said before he proceeded, “I know you think you just got me involved here to have my organisation pay for the expenses. But I don’t recall you having performed any surgeries on lions the better part of this year. In fact, I doubt you did any after that incident. ”

The Uchiha suddenly stood up, startling Naruto. For a moment both Sakura and Naruto thought he was going to jump on Kakashi and just twist his neck.

“You don’t come in my office and bring that up in my face” he put both his hands on the desk and leaned in, “Let this be a warning to you, Kakashi. I don’t care if you were my mentor, I will stab you.”

Kakashi didn’t seem scared, unlike Sakura and Naruto, this was probably not the first dead threat he got from Sasuke and was certainly not the last.

“He is joking…” Kakashi turned to Naruto as if he was apologising for his mentee, “He writes that in his annual Christmas card to me and I’m still alive.”

“I’m starting to know him quite well, believe me.” Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

“So, what is it going to be? Who is going to perform the surgery?” Naruto asked, looking from Kakashi to Sasuke.

“Tell you this,” Kakashi seemed to have come up with a compromise. “We do it together. One takes the lead the other assists.”

“I believe it seems like a good solution” Naruto spoke up.

“But who will lead?” Sasuke asked, leaning back in his chair. He stared at Kakashi who was staring right back.

“I am your **sempai**-“

“Shut the fuck up, we aren’t in your erotic novels!” Sasuke hissed at Kakashi who turned his head to Naruto.

“Believe me there was a time he was actually a nice person.”

“When?” Sakura asked, causing Sasuke to glare at her. “Just telling the truth.”

“Yeah you’re right, I’m lying. He has always been like this. Tell you this. Let Daddy-Lion decide.” Kakashi said. Naruto looked at Kakashi, not sure if he had heard him right before he knew it everybody’s eyes were on him. Naruto was quiet…Was he seriously supposed to choose.

“I…I wouldn’t know…I am not a vet, I don’t know who is better…”

“Choose personality wise. Who do you want inside your baby girl?” Kakashi raised an eyebrow, he seemed to be the only one enjoying his own joke.

“Uhm…” Naruto looked at Sasuke and then back at Kakashi.

“I guess…I do know Sasuke longer-“

“That’s is settled!” Sasuke interrupted Naruto, and for the first time in days he seemed to be a little glad. “I’ll write you a list with materials I require.” 

“Well, I guess daddy-lion knows what is best for his baby-girl.” Kakashi admitted defeat, but his words left Naruto with a knot in his stomach. Did he though? He knew Sasuke wasn’t in a very good state of mind, should he have gone with Kakashi? Was it too late to change his mind? He looked up, seeing Sasuke give him a small smile, mouthing a quick ‘thank you’. It seemed he really gotten the win he was waiting for.

The knot didn’t go away, but it became less notable when he got busy with his tasks for the day. When he returned to the cage where Sarabi was resting he noted some blood on her face. Naruto’s frowned before entering the cage and seeing red vomit in the corner. It had some dark red chunks in it. Naruto looked back at the lioness that was approaching him. Her head rubbed against Naruto’s leg. 

The Zookeeper kneeled down and hugged her. The knot returned in his stomach. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and texted Sakura, telling her about the vomit. She texted back telling Naruto she was on her way and to not clean the vomit before she took a sample. She arrived after half an hour. Unlike Sasuke she wasn’t afraid to enter the cage, as long as Naruto had both his hands around Sarabi.

“She can notice you’re tense,” Naruto noted as he was patting the lion and cleaned her mouth up.

“Of course, I am in a cage with a lioness. I am not insane like you,” Sakura joked as she put the sample in her bag.

“Did you have a lot to do today?” Naruto asked after she walked out of the cage and Naruto shut the door behind him.

“Lot of collecting. I had to collect urine samples, poop samples…Now a vomit sample.” Sakura said, “If I wasn’t wearing this bag around me I could’ve basically been a visitor at the zoo who got the pat some of the animals.” She laughed at this.

“Are you going to take your lunch break soon?” Sakura asked, “Come with me. Sasuke’s is paying for lunch. He was in a very good mood after you choose him over Kakashi.”

“He is?” Naruto asked, opening the door for Sakura before following her to the medical unit.

“I was actually doubting my choice.” Naruto sighed.

“Why? Because Kakashi has been a vet longer than Sasuke?” Sakura asked, “he does have a major part in an organisation dedicated to the care of exotic animals.”

“Yeah…That…” Naruto stared at the ground. Maybe he should talk to Sakura about last night and the doubts he had about Sasuke.

“I wouldn’t be too worried about it. Have you seen Sasuke around the animals?” Sakura asked. “I assist him when he’s going on rounds, it always such a pleasure to see how well he connects with he animals. Last time when he was examining the elephants, Dumbo wrapped her slurve around him and titled him up. I was concerned at first, but it was all well. She put him down quickly. She was just happy to see him.”

“The guy is not afraid of elephant, but won’t come near my lions? He knows elephants can crush him…Anytime they want.” Naruto scoffed.

“I don’t think he is afraid, it must be something else. I have seen an anaconda wrap itself around him and he didn’t flinch. I asked if he was afraid of getting injured, but he says that animals are smart and can sense that he is there to help them. Oh…There is one animal I saw him not get along with.”

“What animal?”

“Koalas. They keep trying to pee on him.” Sakura laughed, “I keep seeing them try, it is hilarious.”

Naruto chuckled at this. It seemed Sakura managed to cheer him up and finally get rid of the doubt he held. Perhaps he was being too hard on the vet. Just because he had some personal issues he was dealing with at the time did not immediately meant it would interfere with his job.

When they reached the medical unit, they could hear a stranger’s voice from behind the door. He was talking pretty loudly, it was hard to distinguish if the guy was mad or just passionate in his words.

“Sasuke, come on! You’re being unreasonable. Let’s talk about this, you can’t just walk away from this!”

Naruto was wondering if it was alright to be eavesdropping on what seemed like a very private conversation, but Sakura leaned closer to the door.

“I’ve been seconded by your job, your so-called career for the entirety of our relationship. I put so much effort and time and you’re just going to walk away from it? Damn it, say something!”

“Are you done?” Sasuke’s voice seemed calm, “get out.”

“For fuck’s sake, Sasuke-“

“I’m going to call for security if you’re not leaving on your own. I bet they are happy to carry you all the way to the gate.”

“So this is how you want to do things, hu?!”

“I don’t want to waste the rest of my lunch break to some man-whore. So yeah, this is how it is going to go. You won’t bother me anymore, you won’t contact me anymore and you will stay away from my life.”

“So now I am just some whore to you, hu?!”

“No, I loved you. I did.” Sasuke’s words sounded sincere, “But then you decided to act like whore, so I’m going to treat you like a whore. So at my earliest convenience, I will get my stuff, take my dog, and leave the key on the table and let you to run your little brothel.”

“I’m not a whore!” There was a loud bang and Sakura backed away from the door.

“Wait, so you just fucked all those people for free? That is just bad business, Deidara.” Sasuke said, “You should start charging since your ‘art’ isn’t going to pay the bills.” 

“You destroyed five of my paintings, that were extremely promising!”

“And you broke my heart, what ya gonna do about it, cry?” 

Naruto and Sakura shared a quick look at one another, not sure if they were should laugh at Sasuke’s sarcastic response.

“This, exactly this! The reason why not even your own father can stand you! I’ve tried over and over again to make things work between us, but you’re arrogant, selfish and impossible to be around! Do you know how hard it is to love somebody who is like you.”

“What do you mean somebody like me…”

“You’re jerk-“

“You repeatedly cheated on me and I am the jerk?!”

Sakura’s eyes widened and she put her hand in front of her mouth, she pulled away from the door and looked at Naruto.

“Holy shit, did you know?” She whispered, “Is that why you asked me if he talked to me about his boyfriend?”

Naruto slowly nodded before telling her what had happened last night, he was interrupted mid-way of his story when he suddenly heard Deidara go postal. He was shouting every swear word in the book towards Sasuke and the things he said were very hurtful, let along if they came from somebody you thought loved you.

When they heard a loud bang repeated by another. Naruto and Sakura shared a concerned look.

“What the hell,” Naruto pushed the door open, seeing the desk flipped over and pushed aside while the man had Sasuke pushed against the wall, his hands around his neck. Sasuke looked frozen for a moment, staring wide eyes at his former lover.

“I’m getting security!” Sakura ran off to find help. Her voice woke Sasuke up from his state. He kicked Deidara in the nuts, before punching him in the face and kicking him away from him. The men fell on his side, his nose bleeding and grunting in pain as Sasuke sacked through his knees and gasped for air.

“Are you alright!?” Naruto ran towards Sasuke, kneeling down in front of him. He could see Sasuke’s expression first look clueless before realising what had happened.

“You motherfucker-“ He was ready to jump up and beat Deidara up. Naruto had to physically hold Sasuke back, afraid he was actually going to kill the guy. He wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s middle, pulling him back.

“Sasuke! Calm down! He is not worth it!” Naruto was surprised. He took care of four lions and they were playful as hell and a lot heavier too, and yet he had a lot more difficulty restraining Sasuke than he ever had with four lions.

“If I see you on the street. Bitch, your ass is done!” Sasuke shouted, seeing Deidara painfully pull himself up from the floor as security guided him out of the medical unit.

Sakura looked surprised at Deidara’s bleeding face before looking back at Naruto holding Sasuke back. She looked amused.

Naruto eventually managed to get Sasuke to calm down, by using the very same trick he used when one of his lions were in a mood. He pulled the vet towards him, shushing him as he stroked his back gently. He could feel Sasuke stop struggling and give in to Naruto. He leaned his chin on Naruto’s shoulder and closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. For a moment Naruto thought the emotions had finally caught up to him, but Sasuke seemed to harden himself again and when he pulled away from Naruto, he had the same emotionless expression on is face.

“I’m sorry,” he quickly said, looking around his office at the mess his ex-boyfriend had made.

“So, I didn’t know you could throw a good punch.” Naruto tried to lighten the mood as he helped Sasuke turn the desk back on all fours before placing it back to where it stood. Sakura helped grabbing some of the fallen items and placing them back on the desk.

“Yeah, my dad’s a chief of police. He taught my brother and I how to defend ourselves…And to smack a bitch.” Sasuke sat down, rubbing the back of his head before looking down at the blood on his fingers.

“Are you alright?” Sakura asked walking towards Sasuke and taking a look at the back of his head. “It seems to be bleeding a lot. You probably need to get some stitches.”

“Just fucking great…” Sasuke clenched his jaws as Sakura walked to the examination room and came back with a thick cotton bandage, and pressed it against the wound.

“I’ll drive you, come.” She said.

Naruto hadn’t seen Sasuke the rest of the afternoon. It was just when he zoo was about the close when he saw the medical unit lights were still turned on. He wondered if Sakura was staying late to get some of the work done for Sasuke, but when he knocked quickly and entered without waiting for an answer. He was surprised to see Sasuke.

“What can I do you for, Mr Uzumaki?” Sasuke asked, putting down some of the files.

“Don’t you need some rest?” Naruto asked, sitting down on the chair adjacent from the desk. “How was the doctor?”

“Surprisingly shitty given that it was my brother who was the only available doctor and he wouldn’t drop the subject on how I managed to bump my head so hard, I actually left a wound deep enough o get it glued shut.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell him what happened?” Naruto asked, seeing Sasuke give him an annoyed look. “So you didn’t want to tell him because you’re afraid he going to judge you or because you’re afraid he is going to kill your ex-boyfriend.”

“Why are you here, Naruto,” Sasuke asked calmly.

“Honestly, I wanted ask how you were doing.”

“Fine.”

“Are you sure though?” Naruto looked suspicious. “I mean what happened today was quite something. I mean…All the shit that guy yelled at you and the sudden outburst-“

“Drop it!” Sasuke hissed, he seemed to supress his sadness with anger again. A silence emerged between the two and it wasn’t very pleasant.

“I’m sorry…” Sasuke sighed, realising Naruto was only being kind to him, “It has just been a really bad day.”

“Yeah, you seem to have a lot of them.” Naruto muttered, looking away from Sasuke. “Maybe you should take some time to figure things out?” 

Naruto felt the knot in his stomach return when he saw Sasuke’s eyes soften and show some concern.

“What are you talking about?” 

“I am just saying-“

“Spit it out!” There he went again with replacing whatever feeling he had with anger, “I don’t need you to sugar coat your words.”

Naruto was doubting if he should continue talking or shut up, but he decided it was only going to make things worse if he delayed what he wanted to confess.

“I don’t think you should do Sarabi’s surgery tomorrow. I rather have Kakashi do it.” Naruto said, not daring to look at Sasuke. He kept his eyes on the floor, waiting for an outburst, maybe a slap in the face or a punch in the stomach. What he wasn’t expecting was to look up and see the most beautiful eyes in the world, look so crushed and broken.

“Why…” He whispered softly, his lip was slightly trembling.

“It is not that I think that you are not a good vet, Sasuke. I just… I don’t think you are in the right state of mind to take this on. You know, for your own mental health and Sarabi’s health.”

“Right state of mind? I have never been this focussed on my job. It’s all I have left…”

“I am not telling you to quit. I am just suggesting you take some time for yourself.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“You’ve been coming in late, crying, you drank yourself sick in the medical unit. Begged me to fuck you. You live with your brother, you envy in every way. You have some serious parental issues and then suddenly your ex-boyfriend, who repeatedly cheated on you, went on a rampage. Sasuke, you’re problems aren’t going to disappear if you just cut them off and ignore them. Clearly you realised that by now.”

“Well fuck,” Sasuke muttered “I thought I dreamt asking you to fuck me in the medical unit.”

“No, you begged the entire time and puked on your brother’s shoes.”

“Shit…Why couldn’t you just fuck and leave me in the medical unit.” Sasuke leaned his head in his hand. Naruto just frowned, not believing what he just heard.

“Because I have a shred of decency to not take advantage of a drunk and sad person-”

“Which now gives you the moral high ground. If you just fucked me, I wouldn’t have to take this from you.”

“I am not your enemy! I am concerned about you!”

“Certainly sounding like somebody who wins the arguments…”

Naruto looked baffled at Sasuke.

“There are no winners and loser, you bastard!”

“Will you shut up already! Have it your way, I’ll let Hatake perform the surgery. I’ll arrange it tonight.”

“I think it is the right thing to do. Besides, you can still assist him?”

“No, I’ll send Sakura. I won’t set foot in the O.R.” Sasuke got up from his desk chair, “ Apparently, my current circumstances won’t allow me to do my job. I will no longer be involved or associated with the care of your lioness. For further questions consult Doctor Hatake. I’ll email you his number.” 

Sasuke walked away from Naruto, taking his lab coat off and grabbing his stethoscope from around his neck.

“Sasuke…” Naruto watched him throw both in the trash before throwing the key of the medical unit towards Naruto and slamming the door shut behind him.


	5. Rock Bottom

Naruto had his hands deep in his pockets when he was walking around the zoo.The day was quiet and there were not many visitors around at the time of day. Sarabi was taken in for surgery about an hour ago. She was probably lying on her back on some surgical table, being cut open with a knife. The though alone filled Naruto with anxiety. He stopped walking, staring at the panda enclosure. They were just chilling and eating their bamboo without a care for the world. Naruto wished he could just sit between them, chewing some celery and taking a nap…

“Tch!” Naruto hissed in pain when something small hit is cheek. He rubbed the sore spot with his hand before looking at the ground to see what item just flew into his face.

“What the..” He frowned when he stared at a roasted peanut on the ground, and for a moment he wondered who the bastard was that found pleasure in injuring him. He heard a familiar snigger, causing him to snap out of his thoughts.

Everything seemed to come into place when he saw Sasuke Uchiha leaning against the fence that separated the public from the elephant enclosure. He was holding a red and white paper bag with roasted peanut in there, a common snack that was sold around the zoo. He was wearing a dark blue sweater over a white shirt, something that belonged more in his brother’s wardrobe than his.

Naruto’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t seen Sasuke in the last week and he didn’t leave on good terms either. Frankly, Naruto felt guilty for what he had said towards the vet, but just because his words were harsh did not make them less true and it was that fact that Naruto told himself every time his guts turned into stone.

Sasuke seemed to catch on to Naruto’s conflicted feeling, he gave the saddest little smile that simply insinuated that whatever conflict they had, was pushed aside for the time being. Naruto was relieved at this, and when Sasuke indicated for the zookeeper to come towards him, Naruto smiled and forgot his worries for a moment when he jogged towards the elephant enclosure.

“Hey-” Naruto began talking, but was interrupted by Sasuke almost immediately.

“Your face is annoying” Sasuke stated, turning his head away from Naruto.

“Oh yeah!” Naruto raised his voice, “Well,your face…Uhm…Well your face…” He fell silence trying to come up with an insult. He could see Sasuke’s expression turn into a smug one.

“Ugh fine, you have a pretty face but your personality is awful.” Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

“I can’t argue with that,” Sasuke agreed, “I got it from my dad. His unpleasant personality and his love for strong liquor.”

“Is your father an unpleasant person?”

“He’s a jerk. Isn’t yours?”

“I never got to know my father…” Naruto admitted.

This caused Sasuke to turn his head away from the elephant and look up at Naruto. It was as if he was examining the other’s face to make sure he wasn’t pulling a prank on him. After a few seconds, Sasuke mouthed a quick ‘sorry’, barley audible.

“So..Uhm…I thought you were taking some time off?” Naruto tried to switch the topic. He was already dealing with enough without talking about the hardships of his childhood.

Sasuke tucked his hair behind his ear, revealing his purple eye before leaning his elbow on the railing and staring at the animals. Naruto stared at the purple eye, admiring the beauty of it.

“I didn’t come for work. I’m here to watch the animals.”

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up when he Sasuke’s purple eye made direct eye contact with his. He tried to play if of cool by turning his back to the railing and leaning softly on it, looking away to make sure his surprise and red face were not noticed.

The silence that emerged started to feel uncomfortable and it caused Naruto to blurt out the first thing in his mind,”So uhm…Today is Sarabi’s surgery. She’s been taken by Kakashi’s organisation an hour ago.”

“I know,” Sasuke stood up straight and threw a peanut in the air. He tried to catch it in his mouth. It didn’t seem to bother him much.

“And…Y’know… I’m very worried….” Naruto chuckled nervously, but the awkward laughter turned into a real chuckle when he saw Sasuke fail at catching the peanut in his mouth. Sasuke glared towards Naruto before offering him the bag. It seemed he was challenging the blond to try himself.

Naruto took the bag, it was warming up his cold hands instantly He grabbed one peanut and threw it in the air, catching it perfectly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, indicating the only reason Naruto caught the peanut was ‘beginners luck’. Naruto disproved him when he threw another in the air and caught it again, and then another to show off

“You want to hear my professional, non-professional, opinion?” Sasuke asked.

“Badly, yes..” Naruto admitted, throwing another peanut in the air. He could see Sasuke give him a small smile.

“Kakashi is one of the best veterinarians I know. If I had to give this procedure to anyone, it would be him”

“But you…two argued-”

“Because he is cunt, but just because he is a cunt doesn’t mean he isn’t good at his job**,**” Sasuke interrupted Naruto, who chuckled at Sasuke’s words. He could see Sasuke look at the time on his watch.

“Do you have to go somewhere?” Naruto asked.

“No, I am just checking the time to see when they will feed the lions,” the vet had this small smile on his face when he looked at the head zookeeper for the lions, “Wouldn’t want to miss that”.

“How about I give an exclusive meeting with the most well behaved, big cats you’ll ever meet?”

“Yeah, I would love that” Sasuke said, taking a few steps away from the elephant enclosure. As he walked past Naruto he quickly put his hand on the other’s shoulder, whispering “Don’t get scared, big boy”, before letting go.

Naruto frowned and he turned confused by Sasuke’s words. Did Sasuke think he was scared of something? His lions perhaps? However, his question got answer quickly when he turned his head around and almost screamed his lungs out seeing the elephant stand right behind him. It grabbed the bag of peanuts with her slurve. Naruto put his hand on his heart, panting slightly.

“And they say lions are wild animals! Believe me I am more frightened by these huge creatures!” Naruto immediately walked towards Sasuke, standing slightly behind him as he watched the elephant empty the bag in her mouth before throwing the paper bag away.

“Ah..” Sasuke looked amused, “Dumbo is just craving food. She is pregnant, after all.”

“That’s amazing! Have you told Chouji?”

“Nah, I haven’t gotten around it. Maybe you will like to tell him later. On my behalf” 

Naruto’s face lit up. He couldn’t wait to tell Chouji the wonderful news. Thinking about it already send delight in Naruto’s heart and he noticed…Perhaps Sasuke wasn’t such a bastard afterwards.

“Is it me or are you trying to cheer me up in your own weird way?”

“It is definitely you, usuratonkachi” Sasuke commented before reaching for Naruto’s hand, entwining their fingers “Lions?” He asked. 

“Lions” Naruto confirmed, feeling Sasuke’s cold hands slowly heat up in his own hand. Perhaps Sasuke did like him more than he led on to.

“Ew your hands are so sweaty” Sasuke pulled his hand back and wiped it off on his pants.

“But…We had a bonding moment!”

“Hm, cannot recall” Sasuke said, walking ahead of the zookeeper.

“Maybe if I have the lions attack you, I can say it was just an accident” Naruto muttered, Sasuke turned himself around, walking backwards.

“Don’t do that, your lions will be seen as dangerous animals and killed.”

“I meant it as a joke”

“I am just informing” Sasuke said with a small grin on his face.

“Watch out” Naruto said in a monotone voice, but Sasuke already tripped over a step and fell on his butt. 

“Look at that! That got the grin right off your face, believe it” Naruto passed the vet, sniggering.

“Fair enough, I deserved that” Sasuke got up and caught up to Naruto.

“Y’know Sasuke, when I first met you. I thought you were a bastard-”

“I am a bastard” Sasuke said.

“But you are actually a pretty nice guy. I mean…Trying to distract me to keep my mind off Sarabi. It’s not something everyone would do”

“Who is Sarabi?” Sasuke cocked his head, looking genuinely clueless. Naruto would have almost fell for it, if he didn’t know better.

“You bastard” Naruto punched Sasuke lightly in the arm, but pushed him so the side by the process.

“Hey, mind the arm. I bruise like a peach and I need this arm.”

“To jerk off?”

“To push inside of animals’ butts” Sasuke clearified.

“Wait…Do animals get prostate exams?” Naruto looked confused, “does Simba get one?”

“I will give you one if you just ask nicely” Sasuke said, the grin was suddenly back.

“Isn’t that your brother’s expertise?” Naruto remained quiet, letting the words sink in,” I mean humans not…Fingering assholes…Wow now I am just being weird”

“A little” Sasuke admitted, “But..Kinda funny” The vet looked at the lion enclosure.

“You like guys that are funny?” Naruto asked, “Am I your type of guy then?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Pff..” Sasuke was quiet for second. “The last guy I thought was cute got a restraining order against me.”

“That’s awful.”

“Yeah, he is withholding me from getting my stuff out of the house and above that he is keeping my dog hostage. At this point I think it is more out of spite than an excuse to get me to talk to him…”

“Can’t your cousin find a way around it?”

“He is working on that, but the legal way is a long way. I just don’t want him to hurt my dog. It is a Corgi, two years old. His name Shiro.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Naruto said.

“Yeah and above that he is suing me for assault.”

“He tried strangling you?!” Naruto frowned at this, “You were defending yourself!”

“Yeah…The process server came at my brother’s house. The guy had a pizza box with the papers in it. What’s even worse is that there wasn’t even a fucking pizza in it. Have the decency to buy a men a meal before serving him with some jackass law sue that can cause him to go bankrupt and on the verge to move back in with his parents.” 

Naruto could notice Sasuke digging his nails in the palm of his hands, his jaws were clenched and he seemed to be repressing his anger.

“It is so awful that he’s putting you through all of that. Are you alright?”

“No…Not in the slightest.” Sasuke said, “But it made me think…You’ve made the right call giving the surgery to Kakashi. I guess, I am not doing as fine as I wish.”

“You seemed very angry that night.”

“Yeah, I was. But you know, a man can only hit rock bottom so many times before realizing he should set camp in that bloody ditch and admit that’s his life now.”

“No, don’t say that. You haven’t fallen, you’ve been pushed by some selfish jerk who has it out for you. You’ll get through this, I promise.”

“So I try…” Sasuke’s eyes looked shallow and Naruto felt angry at the jerk who was going to such length to ruin the vet’s life. A part of him wanted to just go to the guy and punch him in the face, force him to stop and take Sasuke’s dog back. If he could just do all of that, all Sasuke’s problems would go away and he could be happy again.

He could see Sasuke’s expression change so a slightly calmer one. Naruto turned his head to the enclosure and could see Simba yawn, showing his sharp teeth before stretching himself and rolling over the ground.

“Hey! Would you want to go inside?” Naruto asked.

“I would love to go inside Naruto.”

Naruto’s face turned red and he laughed nervously.

“You mean ‘_I would love to go inside, Naruto_.’ Not, ‘_I would love to go inside Naruto_’.”

“I don’t hear the difference,” Sasuke stated, “Will you let me?”

Naruto’s eyes widened and it wasn’t until he saw a grin appeared on Sasuke’s face that he knew the vet was just pulling his leg.

“I am just slightly disappointed in you…Slightly” Naruto said, opening the enclosure

“I am just joking” Sasuke said, walking inside.

“Aha yeah you…WAIT YOU MAKE JOKES?!” Naruto shouted, catching the attention of the three lions. They stopped with everything they were doing and made their way towards their zookeeper

“Oh, they are coming really close” Sasuke moved behind Naruto, softly holding on to his orange and black jacket.

“Nala, Simba, sit down” Naruto said, both his lions listened. Laying on the grass. Naruto patted both of them. “See, they don’t harm anyone” he looked over his shoulder at Sasuke.

“How do you do it?” The vet asked in awe.

“Mutual respect, I guess”

“You are totally quoting that guy from Jurassic World “ Sasuke noted.

“My favourite movie!”

“I liked it too” Sasuke admitted before kneeling down next to Naruto. He looked hesitant at first, but Naruto encourage him to touch the lions. He held Sasuke’s hand guiding it to Simba’s manes.

“See, he likes getting attention from you.” Naruto noted, seeing Simba purr. He let slowly go of Sasuke’s hand, seeing the vet get more comfortable around the big cats.

“Didn’t you use to work with lions in Iwagakure?” Naruto asked.

“Yes.”

“Why did you stop? I thought you felt like you were making a difference?” Naruto asked, recalling the things Sasuke had told him when he was drunk.

“Because I wasn’t” Sasuke words sounded harsh.

“I only thought I was. But ever lion I saved, five more were dying. Even with all my dedication to the cause…It wouldn’t change the truth of these animals going extinct”

“But that is not why you quite, was it?” Naruto asked. “Dr Hatake said you stopped right after a lioness died during some surgery” 

Sasuke remained quiet. Naruto was wondering if he was cursing his old mentor for leaking the personal information.

“I mean, it was probably not your fault-“

“I will tell you something. Something, I haven’t even told my brother or my ex for that matter” Sasuke looked away from Simba to Naruto.

“I have spent many years in iwagakure, saving animals from abuse, hunters, diseases. Especially lions they were frequently hunted down for sports. It is disgusting really.”

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed.

“We had taken some cubs from a pride. They were sick and weak. After a few days they were as healthy as could be. Me and some others were observing the pride from a distance. I just freed the cubs from the cage and they were running back. I was looking through my binoculars to see if the pride would welcome them back or not, then I heard shooting. The first thing that came to my mind was to drop to the ground and I did. My team and I got separated. I couldn’t find them. We got attacked by the hunters that wanted to get to the lions. They had it always out for us because…Well, we cost them money” Sasuke took a deep breath.

“I was crawling away, my intentions were to hide. But they had found me…Pathetically fast. I didn’t even get to go into the hiding part of my plan. I was still crawling. I was very scared because…They had shotguns and I didn’t have anything. This men grabbed me by my ankle and he pulled me right towards him.…” Sasuke’s face looked paler than usual as he was telling the story.

”I can still remember how awful he smelled, like he hadn’t take a shower for weeks. I thought I was done. I honestly was already accepting my dead when he was aiming his shotgun at me…And then-“

“You died?” Naruto looked confused.

“Yes, I died. You are talking to my ghost” Sasuke said sarcastically.

“Sorry, please continue…”

“One of the lionesses jumped on the hunter and bit him right in the neck. Her teeth easily teared through his flesh and her jaws just ripped out a huge chunk of flesh. It was a terrible image, I can still see it something when I close my eyes. I can see those scared, empty eyes stare at me, the light in them fading away…”

Sasuke fell silence for a moment. Naruto wasn’t sure if he was supposed to tap Sasuke to snap him out of reliving the moment, but it seemed he didn’t need to. Simba nudged his head towards Sasuke, craving his attention. Sasuke smiled, patting the big cat.

“At first I thought the pride was just so hungry they were eating humans now, but none of them ate the hunter. They just killed him. They probably associated seeing humans with death. I was scared…I thought…Maybe they were going to kill me next. But then the cubs ran to me. They jumped on me and licked my face. The lioness roared before heading back to her pride, the cubs followed. I just stood up and started walking away. I found the others and we went back to camp and I was thinking about what happened.”

“That’s an amazing story. They probably sensed you were a decent guy and there to help them. They are intelligent creatures.” Naruto said, seeing Simba lay down and lean his head against Sasuke. He was getting a little playful, causing Naruto to clap his hand which made Simba stop right away.

“The lioness that saved my life had only one eye, she was blind on the other. I could tell because she had a scar going right through her eye. Not even aweek later I was called in the O.R for an emergency. They had found a lioness in critical condition, with several bullet wounds in her body. When I arrived in the O.R I saw she was blind in one eye, a scar across it.”

Naruto felt a chill going down his spine.

“She had saved my life, but I couldn’t save hers. She died during the procedure. Her passing was quite the burden on me. I couldn’t handle it anymore…So I quit. I moved back …and then after a small break… came here”

“That is a heavy story. Dude, if this was a movie, I would totally watch it, believe it. I would be ugly sobbing the entire time.”

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a questionable expression on his face. As if he wasn’t sure Naruto was being sarcastic or not.

“I am serious. You are by far the most badass motherfucker I know” 

Sasuke scoffed, but Naruto noted the colour returning in his face.

“That is because you want to get inside my pants.”

“Aah, is it that obvious?” Naruto teased Sasuke, “What can I say, you’ve a great ass in your brother’s pants.”

“They are my sister-in-law’s.”

“You’re really rocking the hell out of those yoga pants.”

“She got this from the male section.”

“Is that supposed to make you feel more masculine in your sister-in-law’s pants?” Naruto asked.

“No, but it explains the tightness around the ass area, but the room in the crotch zone.”

Naruto laughed at this.

“Say, Naruto…Do you really want to date me?” Sasuke’s expression was serious.

“I think you’re a great guy going through a rough time.”

“Do you think dating me is a good idea because you could get away with cheating on me?”

“Y’know what Sasuke…I can’t comprehend how somebody would ever want to cheat on you.” His hand reached for Sasuke’s bangs, tucking them away from his eye. “You’re practically the full package.”

“You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“Let’s state some facts then. You’re incredibly beautiful, you’re so smart and you’re funny and caring in your own mean, sarcastic way.”

A small, almost nervous smile appeared on Sasuke’s face before he looked away.

“Those are not facts. They’re opinions…But they are sweet. I guess your mother raised a gentlemen.”

“I don’t know,” Naruto said, “I never got to know her.”

Sasuke looked confused at him.

“I’m an orphan. My parents died when I was just a baby.”

“I am so sorry…”

“Why, did you kill them?” Naruto asked trying to switch the topic quickly.

“You don’t like talking about it, do you?”

“There is just not much to talk about.” Naruto admitted. “I mean, I didn’t have any family and I spend my life in foster care. My first real family…Are my lions.” The zookeeper had a bright smile on his face when he indicated to his precious companions.

“I get it…” Sasuke said, “Your close bond with your lions. They really are your children in a way. It’s beautiful, really.”

“Yeah I guess that is why I’m daddy-lion, remember?” Naruto wiggled his eyebrows, leaning slightly towards Sasuke.

“Fine…Daddy-lion,” Sasuke leaned in too.

Naruto laughed, “that just sounded weird. I guess I got used to you calling me a moron and stupid and-“

“Usuratonkachi?” Sasuke questioned amused.

“Yeah…That.” Naruto felt his heart pump faster. If he just leaned in a little closer he could kiss Sasuke. The thought made his stomach swirl, but the idea of Sasuke kissing him back motivate him enough to pull through. Just when Naruto was about to take his leap of fate his moment got disturb by Sasuke’s phone. The zookeeper quickly backed away, coughing loudly and trying to hide his red, embarrassed face.

Sasuke quickly apologised as he grabbed his phone to take a look at how had tried to call him.

“What’s up with that expression?” Naruto asked, seeing Sasuke frown at his phone. He unlocked the screen and he was texting for a moment.

“It is Hatake…”

Naruto’s heart suddenly stopped beating. Sasuke looked Naruto right in his eyes.

“There are some complications with the surgery” The Uchiha said, getting up from the ground.

“But why is he texting you? What is going on? ” Naruto looked confused and scared. “Is Sarabi? Is she going to be alright?”

“I don’t know…” Sasuke said, looking at his phone. His eyes widened before he looked at Naruto.

Naruto’s heart sank seeing Sasuke’s expression.

“He wants me to take over the surgery…”


	6. Sarabi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of this short story. I hope you enjoyed it.

Naruto was sitting in the waiting room. He was shaking his one leg restlessly and looked back-and-forth from the floor to the clock. An hour had passed since they arrived at the medical unit. Kakashi was still in the operation room as Sakura filled Sasuke in on the situation. There seemed to be in an urgency in the matter, but Naruto couldn’t comprehend exactly what was wrong, especially since Sakura used too many jargons for Naruto to even follow the conversation. Before he knew it, Sasuke disappeared behind the doors and Naruto was left in the waiting room, alone.

The time was going slowly and the hour he had spend alone felt like three full days. His mind was drifting off to Kakashi who he had been told was one of the best exotic veterinarians, and then to Sasuke who used to me his mentee. If Kakashi couldn’t safe Sarabi with his expertise and experience, what made Sasuke more qualified? And besides that, was he even capable of focussing on Sarabi when his entire life is falling apart. Was he in the right mental state to keep calm and stay logical as the lioness was bleeding out on the table? Could he even handle it if Sarabi died during the surgery, he was already going through so much.

The thought of Sarabi dying caused a knot to form in Naruto’s stomach. He remembered the first time he saw the lioness cub. She was the sweetest out of the four lions. She was obedient and affectionate but stood her own when Kiara and Simba were teasing her. She was a powerful lioness and so was he roar. He recalled hearing the little cub practice, sounding like a mere cat trying to fend off another cat. 

A soft smile appeared on Naruto’s face as he thought of all the memories he had of the big cat.

When the doors opened again, Naruto jumped up seeing Sakura walk towards him. She had a neutral expression, nothing on her face gave away the situation in the O.R. 

“Sakura,” Naruto got up and received a quick hug from her and for a moment his heart stopped beating. Was she giving him bad news?

“Sakura…” Naruto’s voice cracked as his eyes started tearing up. Sakura seemed to see her mistake and she quickly put her hands up and shook her head.

“I don’t know if she going to make it or not…” She sat down next to Naruto.

“Sasuke just told me to inform you about what happened. In his exact words he told me to tell the idiot what is going on before he gets an aneurism for using his brain too much.”

“Ha…Typical Sasuke,” Naruto faked a smile as he sat down next to Sakura. “So uhm…What happened?”

Sakura started explaining the complication Kakashi faced during the surgery and how after hours of trying to work as delectably as possible. The vet had to admit he couldn’t do it without causing major complication that could lead to death. Thus, he decided to contact Sasuke with the hopes his time in Iwagakure has given him enough expertise needed to perform such delicate surgery.

“Do you think he can?” Naruto asked, not looking Sakura in her eyes.

“Let me bring you some coffee.” Sakura got up as she walked to the coffee machine. It seemed she didn’t want to answer Naruto’s question. Maybe she wasn’t sure, perhaps she didn’t want to give him false hope. Possibly she didn’t want to make him more depressed than he already was.

“Thank you” Naruto whispered, accepting the mug she handed him.

“Doctor Hatake was very upset when he realised the situation was even worse than he had imagined,” Sakura sat down, she stretched her legs. She must have had pretty sore feed for standing in the operation room for hours on end.

“It is not his fault,” Naruto said, “At least he cared enough to admit he needed help.”

“If it is any consolation, Kakashi did say Sasuke is the best veterinarian he knows.”

Naruto scoffed at Sakura’s words. The irony was hard to ignore.

“Sasuke said the exact same thing about Kakashi. I’m not sure if just being a good vet will help...I think I need something magical.”

“They say love is powerful magic” Sakura put her hand on Naruto’s shoulder for support.

“If my love for my lions isn’t strong enough, than I don’t think I know what love is.” Naruto sounded pretty annoyed at this. His mind drifted off to Sasuke, thinking of his weird way of cheering Naruto up. He thought back to the vet taking his hand and complained how sweaty it was; How he fell on his ass and how beautiful he looked when he was patting Simba. It made him feel slightly less anxious about the situation, somehow thinking of the vet calmed him down. He was brought back to the very first time he met Sasuke, arm deep in the throat of an alligator.

“You’re right, I’m sorry…” Sakura apologised as she retracted her hand. The door was slammed open again.

Naruto and Sakura both jumped up at Kakashi, he was clearly annoyed.

“You,” he pointed at Sakura, “To the O.R now. I need a ten minute break from that motherfucker. There is only so much assholery I can take from that asshole before I stab him.”

Sakura didn’t hesitate for a second as she put everything down and jogged back towards the operation room, allowing the door to fall shut behind her. Kakashi was shaking his head before sitting down. He seemed exhausted.

“Being able to work with Sasuke Uchiha is a talent, that women deserved a medal for keeping up with that attitude.” Kakashi sighed, taking Sakura’s coffee mug that was still hot and left untouched.

“Is everything alright?” Naruto asked. It seemed Kakashi had forgotten the other man was present in the room.

“Right, Mr Uzumaki,” he acknowledged, “My deepest apologies for my behaviour. There is only so many insult one can take before wanting to -and excuse my language- smack a bitch.”

“Believe me you are like the third person I know in the short period of time I know Sasuke that want to strangle him…”

“You don’t know half of it. There is a queue from here to Otogakure of people that want to strangle Sasuke Uchiha.” Kakashi sighed. He took ten seconds to calm back down before sitting up and turning his face back to Naruto.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t manage to remove the tumour,” Kakashi said, he was wearing the surgical mask on the lower half of his face, but Naruto could still tell how sincere the man was by his eyes.

“I know you gave it everything you had,” Naruto sat back down. Kakashi looked down at the coffee. He ended up putting the mug away from him and put his hands in his head, taking a deep breath.

“How is she doing?” Naruto asked.

“Sasuke is doing his best to remove the tumour without perforating the stomach wall and hitting any major blood vessels. It is extremely delicate work and I there wasn’t much I could do except assist him and keeping in eye on Sarabi’s vitals. That and receiving the endless bashing from that cunt. I don’t know how Sakura just takes it.”

“He doesn’t insult Sakura.” Naruto noted, “He takes her out for lunch often because she does a really good job.”

“He doesn’t insult her?” Kakashi looked surprised, “Maybe it is just me then.” The vet seemed oddly surprised by this. “So, I assume Sasuke called you after receiving the news?”

“No, I was with him when you called…And then texted.”

“Yeah Sasuke and I have a thing where we just call to get the others attention and text the rest. We both hate conversations over the telephone.” Kakashi explained like it was the most normal system in the world.

“I thought Sakura said he was taking some personal time. That was the entire reason why we moved the surgery so we could use this medical unit instead of the one at the zoo.”

“He came to cheer me up,” Naruto said, a small smile spread across his face.

“Right, he was always better in that emotional stuff than I was…”

Naruto’s eyes widened at this. ‘Emotional’ was the very last adjective he would ever use to describe Sasuke Uchiha with.

“If that is what makes Sasuke a good vet then Sarabi is already dead…” Kakashi chuckled at this and Naruto shook his head.

His attention was brought back to the door when it got pushed open, revealing Sasuke, he was wearing scrubs and there was some of Sarabi’s blood on his shirt. He was still wearing the surgical mask and his hair was pushed out of his face, revealing his heterochromatic eyes. He lowered his mask and his expression remained emotionless.

Naruto’s heart sunk to his stomach. He was expecting Sasuke to apologise and tell him Sarabi either bleed out or wasn’t going to make it. Tears were welling up in Naruto’s eyes, his heart feeling heavy. Was his baby girl truly gone?

Sasuke walked up to them and looked from Naruto to Kakashi. The tension grew thicker as the two were looking at one another. Naruto could see Sasuke’s lips curl up before saying, “In your face! Hatake!”

Kakashi’s eye darkened, but Naruto looked delighted.

“Sarabi is going to be fine, everything went well.” Sasuke looked back at Naruto. The zookeeper embraced him tightly.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Naruto lifted him up and twirled him around before letting go. 

“Naruto, it is my job” Sasuke said, “My life might be a rollercoaster, but it doesn’t effect my job because I am good at what I do and I care. I care about Sarabi and I care about you.” He gently cupped Naruto’s face in his hand, his thumb stroking the zookeeper’s scarred cheek. “I wasn’t going to let your baby girl die.”

“You’re the best…” Naruto said, taking Sasuke’s hand in his, placing a kiss on he back before holding it in his. He could see Sasuke smile, a genuine loving smile. For that little moment he wasn’t going through a rough time and he hadn’t set camp at rock bottom. He was just happy and at peace.

Kakashi cleared his throat, ruining the moment as he caught both Sasuke and Naruto’s attention. Naruto let go of Sasuke’s hand and Sasuke took a step away from Naruto.

“Right, that brings me to the next thing,” Sasuke looked serious again, but the seriousness disappeared from his face as he had this cocky look in his eyes. He was about to open his mouth to insult Kakashi, but Kakashi wrapped an arm around Sasuke and pulled him along back to the O.R to prepare the lioness for transportation back to the zoo. Sasuke was going to say something but Kakashi insisted if he heard one more mean comment he would snap Sasuke’s neck.

Naruto chuckled hearing Kakashi whisper, rather loudly, to Sasuke if he had a thing for blonds causing Sasuke to push Kakashi away from him and deny it right away. However, Naruto could see the Uchiha’s ears turn slightly red.

Ten days have passed since the surgery when Naruto was patting his beloved lioness in her cage. He was holding her close to him, stroking her cheek against his.

“You’re already doing so much better. Daddy is so proud of you, believe it!” Naruto said. She had been kept in a separate cage to heal from the surgery. She seemed to be bored without the other lions, but she couldn’t be rough housing while the incision was stabled back together. The wound was healing well according to the vet and they were going to be removed soon, meaning Sarabi could return to her shared cage with her friends before being allowed back in the enclosure to run and play again. Her appetite had returned and she ate every bit of food Naruto gave her.

“Look at that,” Sasuke approached the closed cage, wearing his lab coat and holding a black shoulder bag with his medical equipment. “If only my dad was like you, I might have turned out a lot better.

Naruto left Sarabi’s side as he walked towards the bars of the cage, wrapping his hand around it.

“How bad did you really turn out? You’re a doctor.”

“Who’s living with his brother and is forced to play charades tonight with him and his fiancée.” Sasuke cracked a smile. It seemed dark humour was his coping mechanism.

Naruto stretched his arm out and ruffled up Sasuke’s hair saying, “Who’s daddy’s good little vet? Yes you’re. Yes you’re.” He was hoping to cheer the other men up. However, Sasuke’s expression darkened and it seemed he was not at all pleased. Naruto started to regret his action, but he was to far in, besides…Sasuke’s hair was soft and thick, it felt nice to touch.

“Enough,” Sasuke slapped Naruto’s arm away, causing Naruto to hiss and withdraw his arm. He looked at the scratch mark on his hand before turning back to Sasuke.

“Bad vet!” He saw Sasuke flinch the moment he raised his voice, before his frown turned deeper and he leaned his hands on his hips.

“I’m sorry…” Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It has been ten days I should removed the stables from Sarabi’s surgery.” Sasuke said.

“Right, I totally forgot about that.” Naruto admitted.

“And I assume you forgot when I told you not to feed her today?”

Naruto looked guilty as he looked over his shoulder at the big cat.

“She’s just so hungry and she has gotten so skinny over the past month.” Naruto had an apologetic expression on his face. Sasuke returned a soft smile before shaking his head. He seemed to understand Naruto’s reasoning.

“I can try to remove the stables without sedating her.” He said.

“Yeah, that would be great. Does it hurt a lot to get the stables removed thought?” Naruto asked, opening the cage to let Sasuke in.

“It can feel like a pinch, but I can’t be certain if lions find it painful or not.”

“Why?” Naruto asked as he kneeled next to Sarabi, letting her lay down on her side while stroking her head.

“Because I could never flat out ask a lion if it was painful and I never had them conscious during..” Sasuke kneeled down and put his bag down. He opened it and pulled out some materials. A box of latex gloves. Rubbing alcohol, bandage. He took out a big jar of lube and put it down before looking for a small tool that was supposed to pull the stabled out.

“That’s a big jar of lube. Do you just take that everywhere you go?” Naruto asked, picking up the big jar. It must have weight a kilo or two.

“I use it to lubricate my hand before sticking it up an animal’s asshole.” Sasuke said. Naruto laughed nervously.

“You into that?” He asked, pushing Sarabi’s head back down as she was looking at Sasuke and what he was doing near her stomach.

“Are you asking me if I am into sticking my hand in animal’s butts?” Sasuke asked, gently placing the tool against the first of eight stables. He pulled the stabled out and Sarabi flinched. Her paw wanted to scratch Sasuke, but Naruto pushed it down and raised his voice at her, causing her to put her head back down on Naruto’s lap.

“I guess it does hurt a little,” Sasuke commented as he remained calm and repeated the motion for the second stable.

“No, I meant…Y’know...Butts in general?” Naruto pushed Sarabi’s claw back down when she attempted to scratch Sasuke again.

“Are you asking me if I am into sticking up my hand in assholes…In general?” Sasuke sat straight, giving Sarabi a change to compose herself for the next six stables.

“No I…Well, I guess I am?” Naruto cheeks started to heat up and he felt like a major idiot. What kind of conversation did he get himself into.

“No, Naruto. I am not into anal fisting.” Sasuke said causing Naruto to feel even more embarrassed.

“Neither am I, believe it!” Naruto said, he lowered his head and looked down at Sarabi. He was feeling so embarrassed.

“I don’t think I am into anything too weird. In fact I believe I am actually boring in bed,” Sasuke leaned back down to remove the other staples from Sarabi’s stomach.

“Hu why? What makes you think that?” Naruto asked, lifting his head up.

“Hmn, I am just not that adventurous I guess,” Sasuke said, looking in the corner of his eyes where he could see Naruto lower Sarabi’s paw for the third time.

“You think you’re bad in bed because your ex cheated on you?” Naruto asked.

“I said I was boring, I didn’t say I was bad.” Sasuke frowned at this when he turned his full attention to Naruto. “There is a difference.”

“No, no I think you’re great in bed. No, I mean… I assume. No wait!” Naruto shook his head. He wish he could go back in time…

“You think about how my sexual performance is?” Sasuke asked, a little amused at how red Naruto’s face was.

“No! No! I don’t think about it. Sometimes my mind just wonders and I-“

“You fantasize?”

“Yeah!” Naruto’s eyes widened in shock as he realised what he had just admitted to. He quickly took his words back and the panic was clear from his voice. Sasuke chuckled, it was too easy to tease Naruto.

“So uhm….How are you doing?” Naruto asked as Sasuke removed the last couple of staples.

“Not too bad,” Sasuke said as he put some rubbing alcohol over it and packed his bag again. “I miss my dog and I am not sure if my cousin is a lousy lawyer or if the paper route just takes forever.”

“So you’re still unable to go and get your stuff back?”

“And my dog,” Sasuke sighed. “He is probably holding Shiro in a small cage and not even allowing him to run on his tiny, adorable, legs.”

“I’m so sorry…” Naruto looked over at Sarabi, patting her as he thought of what Sasuke said. He wished he could make all his worries disappear.

“It’s fine. I don’t care about things.I can replace all of that once the law sue goes away and I can look for an apartment. I only care about my dog. Shiro is not something I can just replace.”

“I know how that feels.” Naruto said, placing a soft kiss on Sarabi’s head.

“Well, I have to get going. It is game night and I have to wish to seize from existence while playing charades now.” Sasuke got up and put his bag over his shoulder

“Are you any good?” Naruto asked watching Sasuke turn around and pretend to put a noose around his neck and hang himself.

“Hangman!” Naruto guessed, causing Sasuke to tap his nose with one finger while pointing the other at the zookeeper.

Naruto chuckled as he watched Sasuke walk out of the cage and away from sight.

“Yeah…He’s quite something, isn’t he?” He sighed as he got up and stretched his legs that were feeling sore from the ground. Sarabi got up too and nudged Naruto’s leg with his face.

“Yeah, that’s the doctor that saved you and made you feel better again.” Naruto said, allowing his hand to stroke his sweet lioness. “If there was only something we could do to help him out now.”

The lioness roared and suddenly, an idea popped inside his head.

And it wasn’t a good one either.

It was 10 PM when Sasuke was sitting on the couch seeing his future sister-in-law user he body to mime something during charades while Itachi was trying to guess what it was. With every passing second Sasuke wished he could have been anywhere else in the worlds but there.

“Paris! No?! Uhm...Playing….Eiffel tower…Mime! You’re mime!” Itachi guessed as Izumi jumped up and down and pointed at him.

“Another point to Ita!” Izumi said clapping her hands. Sasuke had a hard time to hold his gagging noises to himself.

“Are you alright?” Itachi asked, causing Sasuke to fake a smile and excuse himself to get some water. He walked towards the kitchen rolling his eyes as he passed the liquor cabinet. He walked back towards it and reached for the bottle of vodka and opened the cap, taking a few big sips.

Yes he needed to get through this night without insulting his sister-in-law or his brother. He turned around and lowered the bottle and almost spit out the alcohol when he saw Naruto stand in the back yard, waving from the window. Sasuke put the bottle down and opened the backdoor.

“What are you doing here? How did you get in the backyard?” Sasuke asked as he closed the door behind him.

“This is a rich neighbourhood. Y’all don’t lock doors like you should.” Naruto said, he had a smile on his face and Sasuke couldn’t tell why. 

“So you’re playing charades?” Naruto changed the topic. “I wanted to ring the doorbell, but you were all zoned out. I assumed you were thinking of ways to kill yourself because you seemed so at peace.”

“Was it that obvious?” Sasuke smiled at this.

“I thought the one where you fantasized about throwing the toaster in the bathtub was the most amusing, especially when you had to reach to the outlet because you forgot to plug it in.”

“Ha…Yeah that did happen in my third suicide fantasy.” Sasuke chuckled. It seemed somebody finally got his dark sense of humour.

“I saw you walk to the back so I figured I could catch your attention from the back door.”

“Good thinking.”

“So uhm… You weren’t lying about liking the strong liquor.”

“I had no choice, after this we’re playing Monopoly. A man can only take so much lameness at once.”

“Maybe I can safe your night.” Naruto said.

“How? Are you going to put out?” Sasuke asked with a cocky expression on his face.

“Close your eyes,” Naruto said.

“What are we? Seventeen?” Sasuke mocked him, but Naruto gently took Sasuke’s wrists and placed his hands over his eyes.

“Just do it. You won’t regret it…” Naruto said. Sasuke kept his eyes shut, wondering what Naruto was up to and then he heard a little familiar bark. Sasuke looked at the gate seeing Shiro run towards him on his tiny legs.

Sasuke looked astonished and like a little boy who just receives a puppy as a gift he ran towards his dog and kneeled down, hugging him tightly against him.

Naruto smiled at the sight of the vet placing a hundred little kisses on the tiny head of his dog that was barking and wagging his tail happily.

“You got my dog back! I can’t believe you got my dog back!” Sasuke exclaimed, looking up at Naruto with a spark in eyes.

“Kiba, Chouji and Sakura helped. We just couldn’t stand that jackass taking your beloved pet. We do know a thing or two about loving animals, believe it or not.”

“How did you get him to agree to give my dog back?” Sasuke asked, getting up from the grass, still holding on to his dog that was licking his face.

“We did a little more than just get your dog back,” Naruto said indicating for Sasuke to follow him to the back. Sasuke put Shiro down on the grass as he followed Naruto and could see a moving truck parked in the ally.

“We weren’t sure which stuff was yours per se, but we figured we just grab what we could carry and sort of looked like your things. We also got him to agree on calling his lawyer and dropping the assault charges. You’ll probably will hear about that from your cousin soon.”

“How?” Sasuke asked amazing.

“It wasn’t easy…But we had a little help.” Naruto opened the back of the truck and Sasuke’s eyes widened as he saw Sarabi in between the boxes.

“You didn’t.”

“Oh, but we did.”

“No way.”

“Hell yeah,” Naruto gave the lioness a pat on the head. “She was so well behaved, she deserves all the love in the world.”

Sasuke reached for Sarabi’s head, stroking her head before leaning in to kiss her forehead. The vet then turned to Naruto.

“You’re insane,” he stated, letting his thumb to stroke Naruto’s cheek.

“Nah, I’m just a dumbass.” Naruto said. Sasuke put his other hand on Naruto’s other cheek.

“Yes you are, you’re dumbass.” Sasuke agreed, leaning in,” but you’re my dumbass.” He whispers kissing him passionately on the lips. Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke’s waist, pulling him closer as he gave in to the kiss. His lips were soft and sweet and fit perfectly into Naruto’s.

They heard a loud cough, causing them to break apart. Sasuke looked at the back door seeing his brother and his future sister-in-law. They both looked shocked as they stared at the big cat in the moving truck. Izumi stood behind Itachi as they couldn’t seem to comprehend the situation.

“**Otouto**….Uhm. What is going on?”

“Nothing..” Sasuke said and took a step away from Naruto, who closed the back of truck. As if he could hide the fact that there was a lioness in the back.

“So, we were going to set up Monopoly. Do you want to be the hat? Or the horse?” Itachi said, put got a small slap in the shoulder from Izumi.

“Also…Why is there lioness in the truck?” He added.

“What lioness? That was just big cat.” Naruto said in such a convincing way it caused Sasuke to snigger.

He started to tell his brother something in Japanese and his brother remained calm until the very end. He then looked from Sasuke to Naruto and then back at Sasuke.

“Alright…Good, I guess.” Itachi said thoughtful, ”I’ll choose to ignore that…Should we unload your things?”

“Yeah we probably need to move Sarabi first in case somebody sees her and calls the cops.”

“Yeah good idea,” Sasuke said as Naruto opened the back of the truck and Izumi yelped and hid behind Itachi again who looked uncomfortable himself.

“Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite. I’ll just guide her to the living room and she will just sleep on the couch…Maybe scratch it little…Sorry in advance.”

Izumi and Itachi shared another quick look as Naruto guided the lioness towards the house and Sasuke picked up his dog and followed.

“There are a match made in heaven,” Itachi commented.

“Or just the weirdest fanfiction plot ever written.” Izumi commented, shaking her head.


End file.
